Tag Archives: Optimism

Research

doom and gloom

2008 seems to be the year of despair in contemporary art. I keep coming across exhibitions about uncertainty, failure and futility. Valerie Imus first brought it to my attention with her exhibition, Hopeless and Otherwise at Southern Exposure this past spring.

Recently, critic Peter Schejdahl wrote that the art world is “Feeing Blue” (New Yorker, August 4, 2008 ) in a review of After Nature at the New Museum:

Something is happening in artists’ studios: a shift of emphasis, from surface to depth, and a shift of mood, from mania to melancholy, shrugging off the allures of the money-hypnotized market and the spectacle-bedizened biennials circuit. (In fact, the underappreciated recent Whitney Biennial hinted at the mutation.) It’s a fashion auditioning as a sea change….

against happiness eric g wilson
Likewise, in publishing, it couldn’t be a better time for a book about melancholy. The graphic design of the book’s cover (an un-happy face rendered only with type and a flat field of color) is brilliant, but I’m afraid that the premise sounds suspect. Like the artist-character on NBC’s Heroes whose “super power” is shooting heroin and seeing psychic visions, the book seems to perpetuate the artist-as-suffering-genius myth.

While I welcome the return of sincerity over irony, I’m wary of politically-charged contemporary art accompanied by moralizing from on high. For example, in a recent round table discussion about Bay Area art, one’s birthplace, year of migration to the Bay Area, and knowledge of local histories were occasionally treated like forms of currency. They became special statuses. And special status plus basic political frameworks equals very easy critical positions, but not necessarily good or interesting art. There has to be a payoff.

This past summer, Smack Mellon‘s exhibition, There is no synonym for hope, seemed focused on uncertainty and failure, but importantly, it also acknowledged “the interrelationship of hope and failure.” Yes, that is the productive dialectical tension I’ve been talking about!

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Research

Good news in a time of financial tightening…

To be prosocial (which encapsulates philanthropy, activism and generosity) is to be optimistic that one’s contributions or behaviors matter. As Jim Giles wrote in the New Scientist (excerpts below) prosocial acts, not possessions, increase happiness. So acting towards material comforts might be asocial, reinforcing my idea that pessimism is tied to our meatspace reality and that our material reality is one of inadequacy and futility.

Money can buy happiness, but only if we spend it on others, say researchers behind a three-part psychology experiment.

The study is interesting because it suggests that the way money is spent may be more important than total income, which people often focus on as a source of happiness, says Sonja Lyubomirsky, a psychologist at the University of California, Riverside.

Lyubomirsky has recorded similar increases in happiness in students who were asked to perform acts of kindness, such as helping a friend with their homework.

She suggests that the reason may be due to the way we adapt to changes in our lives.

“Moving into a bigger house will give you a happiness boost, but you then get used to the house,” says Lyubomirsky. The same goes for other types of possessions.

Acts of kindness, by contrast, are more likely to produce unexpected positive outcomes, such as a favour performed in return. Prosocial acts also enhance our self-perception in a way that possessions do not, adds Lyubomirsky.

From Jim Giles’ “Give away your money and be happy,” NewScientist.com, March 20, 2008

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Activist Imagination, Research

Attn: Miserable Idealists

In a look at inward optimism and social pessimism, Matthew Taylor calls for a new collectivism among progressives (“Why Life is Good,” New Statesman, January 3, 2008).

Taylor writes, “miserable idealists need to make a New Year resolution to look on the bright side. Pessimism is becoming an impediment to progressive politics.” He continues:

Progressives want the world to be a better place. We bemoan its current inequities and oppression — yet if we fail to celebrate the progress that human beings have made, and if we sound as though the future is a fearful place, we belie our own philosophy. Instead, we need to address a deficit in social optimism that threatens the credibility of our core narrative.

Similarly, my works for the upcoming Activist Imagination exhibition are inspired by how we see ourselves reflected in the world.

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Research

Optimism in the news!?

“Scientists have identified the neural networks in the human brain that generate feelings of optimism in a person….”
“Cradle of optimism pinpointed in the brain,” DailyIndia.com, October 25, 2007

Americans are, characteristically, optimistic about thier lives, but pessimistic about our institutions.
“The Happiness Gap,” by David Brooks, NYTimes.com, October 30, 2007
A few good lines:
“This happiness gap between the private and the public creates a treacherous political vortex. On the one hand, it means voters are desperate for change. On the other hand, they don’t want a change that will upset the lives they have built for themselves.”
“In a segmented nation, [Americans] have built lifestyle niches for themselves where they feel optimistic and fulfilled.”
“[Political candidates:] don’t try to be inspiring or rely on the pure power of authenticity. In these cynical days, voters are not interested in uplift.”

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Art & Development, Travelogue

Autonomy

This year, I’m lucky enough to travel abroad twice. In a few days, I’ll be off to the UK. It’s my first time across “the” pond. I’m going to be an artist in FRED, the annual art invasion of Cumbria. Then I’m going to see as much art in Manchester and London as possible.

I feel lucky to be an artist who makes a living as a self-employed graphic designer. Still, having tasted the life of a full-time artist during my trip with Galleon Trade, I want more. And that’s another reason why being an Affiliate Artist at the Headlands is so great — sure, there’s the studio, the awesome environment, the community, but I’ve also been savoring the osmotic zone of artists-in-residence. The AIRs are there to have time and space to experiment and develop, and appear to be happily spending their days and nights thinking about, talking about and making art. I find myself wondering, What would it be like to wake up in a secluded place, and in the quiet of the morning, wander over to the studio and see where the day takes me?

I’m starting to think of these opportunities for international travel as Temporary Autonomous Zones (TAZs) as an artist. A while ago, I worked with Underground Railroad, a collective of cultural workers who theorized that, while we lived in a country that lacks physical TAZs (Not counting Burning Man — I mean those accessible to young urban POCs), cultural events could be transient TAZs. The vision was that a taste of being free would lead towards expansions in duration, until soon enough the TAZ would be round-the-clock and migrate beyond its four walls.

I love this idea’s elegance — its sense of natural momentum. It’s not about the fear of failure driving one to a necessary optimism. Rather, the potential is just too good to pass up.

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Art & Development, Citizenship, Community

Generosity

[My vision for this blog is to spend more time on posts than I have right now: to mull over my ideas, and formulate opinions and theories. Of course, the reality is that there’s rarely enough time for blogging, not to mention, sleep.]

Optimism takes work.

Not everyone agrees with me that the SF Bay Area art community is populated by people who exercise professionalism, rigor and generosity. It can be difficult for me to back up my optimistic sentiments. But lately, my cup has been overflowing, and it’s due to the generosity of many artist-friends and artist-mentors.

I couldn’t have imagined that I’d be on the other side of the art auction “ask,” asking artists to donate their hard work and time to support more art- making and showing. But lately, as I’ve become more involved with Galleon Trade, I have been asking artists, and talking to everyone I can, for their support.

The response has been incredible! If there was ever a time to give thanks, it’s now. Everyone I’ve asked has responded positively. From fellow artists getting back on their feet after graduate school, to gallerists who can help get the word out to collectors (without whom an auction could not be successful), to a community-minded artist that I’m assisting, I’m really impressed and thankful for the generosity I’ve experienced.

Almost 40 works by 33 artists have been donated to support the grassroots international arts exchange. There are multiple, stunning works on paper by Megan Wilson, a really beautiful drawing by Aaron Noble, a humorous and optically-strange print by Mario Ybarra Jr. (you have to see it in person), beautiful and mysterious photographs by Gina Osterloh, a curious object by Reanne Estrada, and a striking ceramic work by Erik Scollon. At the center of it all is Jenifer Wofford, who initiated the project, and has been organizing it full-time, with little compensation, for the past few weeks. I feel extremely lucky and thankful to be an artist who benefits from the hard work, generosity and commitment of so many individuals.

See the art for yourself. And if you’re feeling generous, please show your support by donating online via Paypal.

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Art & Development

Why are artists poor? How to support artists.

I hope, dear readers, that you don’t suspect that artists are busy drinking cappuccinos and adjusting their berets, too self-absorbed to get a real job. Rather, the costs of being an artist are high; financial rewards are speculative. For emerging artists, renumeration is nominal and rare.

Like Thoreau in Walden Pond, I’d like to tell you about my expenses. But unlike the Romantic recluse, I can advocate a downscaled lifestyle in theory, but not in practice. Being an artist requires that I “think big,” and that means that I “make big.”

I have to struggle against my penny-pinching instincts when it comes to art materials, because being too cheap is terrible for artmaking. Inadequate materials will undermine a work before it even gets off the ground.

To give you a sense of what being an artist costs, here are some figures I’ve tallied:

A recent project, an edition of 170 Miniature Multiples, cost over $200, or $1.35 per Miniature, in supplies alone:

$75 paper
$26 tape*
$9 glue
$60 paper cutter, blades*
$30 printing/paper
$30 stamps

*Of the purchased supplies, the paper cutter, a tape dispenser and some double-stick tape are the only leftover supplies I’ll have for future use — everything else has been depleted.

But the cost of making art can pale in comparison to the expense of showing art. Preparing for a recent show, I spent well over over $400. (This figure is actually modest—think of photographers who make large prints, video artists who utilize digital projectors, etc.) Here’s where the money went:

$138 frames, plexi, museum board**
$155 installation materials and tools: drywall, lumber, painting supplies, drywall tools
$20 cleaning supplies
$24 shelf & brackets
$26 respirator for re-sanding during de-installation

**The cost of assembling five low-cost, ready-made frames is barely equal to the cost of one professional frame.

Yet these supply expenses are relatively small compared with the cost of labor, education, and other self employed overhead (such as health insurance).

So why even bother?

I decided to be an optimist because I believe optimism is necessary for maintaining a life as an artist. I’m confident that the rewards of being an artist–which are personal, but potentially also professional–are worth the costs.

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How to Support Artists.

1. Show up. Go to the shows. Look at the work.
2. Tell them when they’re doing something neat.
3. Tell others when they’re doing something really neat.
4. Buy stuff. If you hire artists, compensate them for their time, training and overhead, as you would accordingly for any other profession. You can’t pay rent with exposure.

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