What I did and didn't learn in art school.

Civil Rights March oil on board approx 18" x 38" 2004

In 1990 I became a student at SUNY New Paltz for its reputable arts program, cheap tuition and proximity to New York city. I was lacking confidence in my artistic abilities right out of high school and hadn't put together the required portfolio to get into the arts department. I took some basic drawing and design classes thinking I would put together a portfolio with the help of my professors and be a late-comer to the arts program. Alas, I just wasn't seduced by the idea of learning art in a collegiate setting. It seemed boring and I had no idea what I wanted to make, or what I was inspired by. I believe they call this your artistic point of view -- mine was more like an artistic haze with no beginning, middle, or end.

In any case, I became totally mesmerized by the liberal arts classes I was required to take -- particularly a class called Alienation and Mental Illnesses, taught by Professor Irwin Sperber, which introduced me to a number of fascinating theorists and helped explain the confused feelings I was having about matters of the heart, church, family and state. (Check out Erving Goffman's ideas about the total institution for an example.) I proceeded to get a degree in sociology thinking that whatever I was learning in school would probably inform any artwork I'd be making in the future.

The societal relationship between economics and art has always been an interest of mine. For example, I often wonder if artists choose a particular medium based on cost and availability of materials. I also think about the pigments that comprise my paint and how many hands prepared the tubes of paint/brushes/canvases before they landed in my studio. You can read more of my thoughts on economics/art if you read this interview I did with Susanne Hackett of Pollinate Asheville.

I frequently ponder the role of artist in a free market economy and how that differs with the role of artists in collectivist, corporatist, and social democratic economies. Maybe I'll go back to school one day and write a thesis about it.

Society is an insane asylum run by the inmates. ~Erving Goffman