On Ambition

No one is more ambitious than me. But why am I ambitious and who am I ambitious for? What good does ambition do?

Specifically, the question “Why do we hurt each other?” provides navigation to the development of my artwork. This started as a result of a personal violent experience and has been strengthened by my increasing awareness of other hurtful experiences in the local, national and global communities. For example, 9-11, the war with IRAQ and the relationship those two events have with each other. It is my personal thought that these things occur because the persons involved believe they have a right to act as they did. If everyone feels this way and does not acknowledge the validity of the other point of view then the world will never be a peaceful place. My work will help individuals discover how to create a world where tolerance, cultural awareness and diversity are valued.

The significance of my work is to increase people’s self awareness of the role that malleable belief systems play in forming our world. Unseen, Unspoken and Reveals are an effort to effect change in how people interact with each other not only intimately but also in a local and global community. I hope this work will change how people perceive themselves and their importance in the world. I hope that they will vote more thoughtfully and deconstruct the media more critically. I hope they will be more cognizant of their effect on others and be more respectful of diverse lifestyles and belief systems.

It is my responsibility to manifest this work in the world. The ambition is not for me it is for the message to be heard. Additionally, I wish to pave the way for other artists. Other artists also have important contributions to make and any gains in understanding or creating opportunities for venues will be passed on. So I am not only ambitious for my own message to be heard, I am ambitious for the messages of every artist to be heard. I hope to benefit everyone with my ambition. In a world where most of the artists believe that they have no significance and at best their work will only affect a few people and that their own personal ambition is a negative trait I am lending my ambition to them. Hopefully this will create a world where artists will believe in themselves again and believe that the work they do truly does change the world and this collective work does change the course of history.

In this blog I am identifying problems with distribution channels for art and proposed solutions. These ideas are not the only possibilities available to these problems but they are the ones I invented. Hopefully, this will start a dialogue among artists about other solutions and other proposals will be inserted into the discourse.

Overstepping the Bounds: Intellectual Property and Mooching

I have noticed a conceptual mooching practice among insecure art risers who make “art.” These people are not artists but they think they are. They might even have been an artist at one point. But something happened to turn them into a gold digger instead of the creative force they might have been. I am not looking to lay blame but I am looking for a reason why this happens. So here is my theory. In part it is not their fault, in some cases it is perpetuated by some art school. The ambition of the school supersedes any commitment to their student’s true path. They sell the “art career” and the exploration that is involved in the creation of art is ignored. So sometimes a person who would have been an artist is transformed into an “artist” making “art.” It is a very sad thing to see. These people become extremely insecure and loose any focus on any honest life derivative as an impetus for the work.

Now why is it important for me to point this out? Because the net worth of an artist (yes money net worth) is directly informed by the quality of the intellectual property and the marketing of that intellectual property. When an “artist” pursuing an “art career” makes “art” by mooching conceptually it hurts that artist’s ability to make a living. It is just wrong. It hurts. The object of your mooch is a fellow artist who has responsibilities to contribute to their family’s income or support a family, pay taxes, pay debt, invest in stock and plan for retirement. You are kicking a fellow artist in the groin when you mooch. Don’t do it.

I would like to make a point here that mooching is different than influence. I am not grousing about influence. Influence is what happens when you understand or misunderstand some one else’s work and it helps you understand your own work more fully. We don’t live in a vacuum and no one wants to stick their head in a hole in the back yard or go live in a cave on top of a mountain so we will all be influenced. But if you cannot trace the work you are doing back to your own childhood or your own life story without any kind of artificial mind-bending acrobatic convincing you are mooching. Your work should organically grow from your life story. Period.

One more comment to all my fellow artists - When you have made something tangible it becomes valuable. Do not devalue it. It is your bread and butter, shoes on your children and a comfortable retirement. If you give it away or allow someone to mooch by dismissing their actions you are hurting yourself and the larger perception of the value of art in our society. Protect yourself. Be careful out there.