Aunt Marie,
I admire you more than you may ever know. Your work and struggles inspire me in my own art and I thank you so much for that :)
Love you,
Sarah
The series of her pregnant friend were wonderous. I love how Marie stays with a moment and reacts to it over and over with slight and yet significant variation.
I would like to congratulate the honesty displayed the Jan 22 Strangerâs art review of Marie Gagnon, an artist admirable on many levels. Artists pay to work and exhibit at 619 Western and now, apparently, must pay for mention in the free press.
Outside the sacred ground of the galleries, artists dig into their own pockets to put on shows for the joy of it. The galleries open the doors to line their own pockets. It will be interesting to see what happens as the economy implodes and the upper middle class no longer feels that gallery art is affordable. My guess is that many âcareeristsâ will drift into non-production as the galleries are shuttered, but the truly neurotic and compulsive artisans on the Artwalks will continue because recognition and sales are infrequent and almost irrelevant.
Marie painting with her unique sense of color and form, even better.
Marie showing her work, fantastic.
I admire you more than you may ever know. Your work and struggles inspire me in my own art and I thank you so much for that :)
Love you,
Sarah
Your statement âtoo young to have a career or too old to believe (or really care whether) theyâll still have a careerâ succinctly sums up some of my parallel views of the function of 619 Western. A career in the arts is about as likely as a career in professional sports, but there is a lot more going on in the world of art than the drab dĂ©cor and sterile exquisiteness in the commercial galleries. Much of what is shown in 619 and on various Artwalks is god-awful, but here and there are exuberances of an irrepressible nature that will never fit within the stuffiness of the galleries. All this â both good and bad â is being paid for by the artists, with few illusions of mention or sales.
Outside the sacred ground of the galleries, artists dig into their own pockets to put on shows for the joy of it. The galleries open the doors to line their own pockets. It will be interesting to see what happens as the economy implodes and the upper middle class no longer feels that gallery art is affordable. My guess is that many âcareeristsâ will drift into non-production as the galleries are shuttered, but the truly neurotic and compulsive artisans on the Artwalks will continue because recognition and sales are infrequent and almost irrelevant.
Your faithful reader,
Dr. JohnnyWow!