To Post or Not to Post Prices

I feel myself tooting my (OW)n horn...

(detail from "37 Chaos Constructs.")

Referring back to the comments below, I must now deal with the nature of an art blog as being a virtual "open studio." Do I post whether the images I put up for display here are for sale? If I do, then money becomes a big part of the reality of this blog. Yuck. To me making art and making money are in two different worlds. I do visit that second world, but the first world is where I live, and is of more interest to me.

After some face-grimacing thinking (face-making is quite constructive in solving sticky conundrums, by the way) I have decided that I will not list availability of the art as a matter of course. As reference for anyone who might be interested, I'll just say that about 90% of the artworks I've posted so far have new physical homes in the imaginations of collecting others. Far be it from me to define each individual reality.

Think about it: When a piece of art leaves my space it is in someone else's space. That could be the physical space of a safe, a box, a wall, or a gift envelope to another individual. Where it really resides is in memory and awareness (or lack thereof). In the best of cases it goes off into a space that is visible to a whole new group of viewers and takes on new character in the lives of those people. Each piece can be thought of as a student sent out to the world by his master, ready to perpetuate the teachings onward (and perhaps spiraling out of control? Do we really know what is in the inner mind of a visual but non-verbal artist, devoid of the influences of outside professional critical thought? How much control do we really have over art...?)

(Note: I once had the pleasurable job of typing up Herb Caen's columns to be sent out on the AP wire. Here is where I learned about ... well ... three dots and then the correct use of that rare ... and so misunderstood, don't you think? ... fourth dot ... or not.... Do you even know who Herb Caen is? Then you know quoting HC as a grammatical expert is downright foolish.)