For the month I spent at SVA last summer, I found that the physical closeness of other artists in the studios next door to be an amazing motivator. I painted more in that month than in the previous three or four years combined!

I did start to see some of what I’ll call political difficulties emerge after the first two weeks or so. I’ve always avoided the stereotype of the “sensitive artist,” but maybe it’s a stereotype for a reason — maybe artists are more sensitive, and thus slights and insults which might be ignored by others become huge arguments and absinthe-throwing tantrums.

Unless it’s just that artists figure, being “sensitive,” they can get away with behaving like children. If I thought I could, I sure would.

Have you ever heard of Gauguin being a pedophile? I spoke with an Mcad student awhile back that said she’d read some letters he wrote about pretty young girls he’d been with or something. I’m still waiting for her to produce the papers as she said she would.

I have’nt been able to check out your Sellout blog yet as the library’s wireless has a bug that tells me its not found. It does this with many pages off and on, so its not your page exclusively. I have’nt tried today yet though…

Btw, not having net access at home, I tend to copy/paste things I want to read from the net. I just did this with your A & E article so I can read it at home in my leisure. If you find this unacceptable let me know. Of course, i’m not distributing it or even printing it out. But as far as intellectual property rights go, I won’t continue to do this if it offends.

Cheers.