How
to Brighten Up Your Day
Let's
see, how to cheer up the second day of the
profoundest stock market crash of the present century?
Thinking it over, I'll do what I always do: tell the truth.
You can then make up your own mind whether to laugh
or cry.
I
want to start by recommending an article--and by
extension a book--which appeared in The
Times the other day, enticingly entitled "Stuffed
sharks, mega-bucks and trophy art." Written by columnist
Richard Morrison, who was the arts editor at that British newspaper
throughout the nineties, it starts out:
"If you read no other book about art in your life, read the
one that's gripped me like a thriller for the past two days. Just
published by Aurum Press, it's called The $12 Million Stuffed
Shark. And the first surprise is that its author, Don Thompson,
is not an art specialist, but a Harvard economist..."
Morrison
goes on to comment on Thompson's erudite and well-documented view
of the mega-bucks art market. His conclusion: It has very little
to do with art. We suspected that already, didn't we? In any case,
don't miss the article, which you can access here,
and which may convince you to buy the book. I haven't found it
yet on Amazon.com, but if you're in a hurry you can buy it here
at Foyles, UK.
Saatchi
Gallery Gives Free Services
One
of the villains of Thompson's book is the advertising magnate/art
dealer, Charles Saatchi, who is the hero of this number of our
newsletter. Why? Because, through his London gallery, he has recently
created an astonishing set of online services for artists which
I can't recommend too highly. The best news? They're all absolutely
free. All of them are hosted on the Saatchi
Gallery website, and there's something for everybody:
How
serious is it? It currently registers more than 59 million hits
every 24 hours. That looks pretty serious from here. Maybe you
should look into it.
What's
New on World Printmakers?
What's
new on World Printmakers? Let's take a look at the
highlights. Our most recent submission
is from John Phillips, director of the londonprintstudio.
It is actually a call for work. In it he solicits participation
in their upcoming exhibit, to be entitled Agit-Pop:
Activist Graphics, Images and Pop Culture 1968-2008.
Phillips has sent along a selection of some of the posters which
will be included in the show. If you have material which fits
under this umbrella, please don't fail to contact him: john@londonprintstudio.org.uk.
More information on their website: www.londonprintstudio.org.uk.
Dot Krause and
Black Gold
Dot
Krause is back with another of her creative projects, this one
in the guise of the the von Hess Visiting Artist at the University
of the Arts Borowsky Center, Philadelphia. The result
of her collaboration with Lori Spencer, Master Printer Extraordinaire,
and Lori's team of technicians there is a striking print, strikingly
executed on their big Heidelberg offset lithography press, though
Dot insists it's "essentially low technology." She calls
it Black Gold,
one of the Climate Change series she's currently working on. It
makes reference to our dependence on petroleum and the damage
to the environment caused by the burning of fossil fuels.
Some printmaker readers might be asking themselves: "What
pull has Dot Krause got that she has her work featured regularly
on World Printmakers?"
I'll tell you Dot's secret: She regularly does interesting work
and sends us a summary of it along with a set of attractive illustrations.
It's as simple as that.
Wharepuke? In New Zealand, That's Where
The aptly named British printmaker, Mark Graver, recently set
up shop in on the Wharepuke estate in Kerikeri, New Zealand. How
does one go about pulling up stakes and restarting halfway around
the world? Mark makes it look easy. Have a look at his story here.
Confession
Time
It's confession time. I blanch when I sit down to write this newsletter,
and notice how long it's been since I wrote the last one. I have
an excuse, however, having spent the last year and a half writing
a book, a job which requires ruthlessly exclusive dedication.
The book is finished now--though it's presumptuous to call it
a book, as it has not yet found a publisher. So it's still just
a manuscript. Anyone who is interested can read the first three
chapters here on
the blog which I have set up to promote it. You're welcome to
comment freely on what you read there, both in the blog entries
and the manuscript. Note: It's not about printmaking. It's about
an American boy who goes to live in a strange and wonderful country,
and years later looks back from there at the country he left behind.
All the best till next time, and ¡Viva
el grabado!
