Artist's Statement

Question Legacy

This is for…

… the activists who assume artists will freely give of their time, money, talent & artwork to support and champion their causes.

… the arts organizations that have had to financially rely more heavily on the artists they support, further alienating those individuals without funding.

… the collectors, curators & historians who find greater value in an artist’s work after death rather than in life when the artist is able to add more to the discourse.

… the commercial enterprises that are concerned solely with the salability of the art that they represent and are unable to try or disinterested in taking chances.

… the educational institutions that perpetuate the myth of finding a tenured teaching position after pursuing an advanced degree.

… the fans who sheepishly follow the hottest, most popular new trends but aren’t really interested in seeing further development or evolution afterwards.

… the hobbyists who undervalue their own time because they enjoy doing what they do, and thus subsequently undercut equal work by selling cheap.

… the idea that one must have an advanced degree as a form of validation, to lend credibility & significance to one’s art & ideas.

… the networkers who are ultimately only interested in their own endeavors and who go to events to be seen, schmooze and talk about themselves.

… the notion that culture should be imported, causing local artists & artisans to be underrepresented among major institutions and underappreciated overall.

… the poor economy and resulting lack of sales that has caused well-established artists who have been self-sufficient to have to take other jobs to survive.

… the presumption that legacy matters, that an artist will be celebrated & remembered after his/her death while in truth many are forgotten or lost to time.