Epigrams

The seriousness of an artist can be measured by the degree of his willingness to live in poverty.

A good painting should possess an element of magic, the magic of childhood.

Making art helps you redeem yourself.

Intelligence without imagination is like a bird without wings.

Do not fear making mistakes in art. Mistakes can be magic moments when the intellect slips, thereby giving up control and allowing the power of divine nature to take over, guiding your hand to greater things.

The San Miguel Gallery Syndrome

1. Artists get together and talk about how to promote and sell their work. They decide to form a group with other artists.

2. This group becomes a cooperative business venture. They decide to open a gallery and share expenses.

3. With the usual hoopla, the gallery opens. They have an opening party with plenty of wine and botanas. The artists are in high spirits and optimism runs high.

4.  A few months later, attendance begins to decline. They decide to have more openings with wine and botanas. They are spending more money than they had been expecting. Hardly any work is sold as a result.

5. Feeling a little dismayed and disappointed, they decide to advertise.

6. With advertising, their expenses go up rapidly.

7. They decide to invite more artists to join their co-op in order to share expenses.

8. More openings with wine and botanas. Very little work is sold.

9. They decide they cannot afford more parties and advertising. Attendance drops off.

10. The group decides it must do something to bring in more money. Desperate, they offer art classes. More money is spent on advertising.

11. The art classes are only moderately successful, and they struggle to stay afloat in a fiercely competitive environment.

12. The members begin to despair. Some drop out. Most of he original core members remain, determined to see it through to the bitter end. It begins to look hopeless. Finally, the gallery sinks beneath the waves with a last gasp and a whimper.

da Vinci's Birthday

Yesterday, April 15th, was Leonardo da Vinci's birthday, but there was barely a mention of it in the media. Google did not have anything on their home page. Why not, I wonder? Do they consider his work over-exposed? Then why not use one of his lesser known images, a drawing of a fetus or a machine perhaps? Seems like a strange omission. da Vinci's coming into the world was a miraculous event, and should always be acknowledged, regardless of how often we've seen his work.
Shame on you, Google!

The Hype! The Hype!

Sadly, San Miguel is changing from a city of hipsters to a city of hypesters. And saddest of all, most of the hypesters believe their own BS.

(The title of this "thought for the day" is a reference to Joseph Conrad's story, The Heart of Darkness. My apologies to those who got it.)

Being an Independent Artist, Less Secure but Free

Here’s a quote I came across in Janson’s The History of Art, and which I like exceedingly well: “To subject the artist to the impersonal pressure of supply and demand in an egalitarian society is not necessarily worse than to make him depend on the favor of princes. The lesser men will tend to become specialists, steadily producing their marketable pictures, while artists of independent spirit, perhaps braving public indifference and economic hardship, will paint as they please and rely for support on the discerning minority. . . Even the greatest masters were sometimes hard-pressed (it was not unusual for an artist to keep an inn, or run a small business on the side). Yet they survived – less secure, but freer.” (pp. 424-25) I salute those artists, like myself, whose fiercely independent spirit keeps them free despite the hardship they must endure.

More on the Branding of Art

A well-established painter here has started calling himself “a baroque artist for the 21st century,” (I thought most artists were ba-roke – ha, ha), but, frankly, I don’t see the baroque quality in his work. The Baroque movement (1600-1750) began in Rome with such artists as Caravaggio and Cranacci, and moved north, where it was exemplified by Rubens and Rembrandt. Baroque art characteristically has movement, dramatic light, and rich color, none of which I see in the painting of this San Miguel artist. (My own work seems more baroque.) Also, his paintings are devoid of perspective – the scenes and figures are presented with a flatness that I dislike and which cannot be considered “baroque” by any stretch of the term. So what we have here is another example of meaningless labeling, in order to “brand” his style. The branding of art is something I abhor, and I am quite dismayed that this otherwise serious artist, whose work I greatly admire, would stoop to that. And while I’m on the subject, he is scheduled a “pop-up” exhibit at a local gallery called The Bordello Gallery, a name I find most contemptible because of its suggestion that artists are whores. 

Outrageous Extravagance

Three hundred million dollars for a Gauguin painting seems a bit excessive. Has the art market entered a period of collective insanity? Are collectors vying for first place in the Outrageous Extravagance category? Are high-end buyers going off the deep end? The madness of artistic genius seems to pale before the madness of buying for the sake of outdoing other buyers in the game of one-upsmanship. Where and when will it stop? Would an individual artist refuse to make a sale because it is too high? Of course not. Would an artist sell a painting knowing it would be buried in someone’s private collection and never be seen by the public? Most likely. The higher the price paid for a work, the more it drives up the prices for other work by the same artist. The value of a work seems more and more to be determined by extraneous factors such as the artist’s moral depravity. Can an artist who lives a quiet life become famous for being a recluse and thereby increase the value of his work? Perhaps. But that route to fame will probably only come to fruition posthumously. And so the game of selling art gets more and more like an unstoppable runaway train.

My New Gallery

Well, I've decided to take the plunge into gallery ownership. My new gallery is called LES FEMMES GALLERY and it features my iconic images of women. At the moment it is an online gallery only. Please take a look. Here's the link http://www.lesfemmesgallery.com

Yearning, oil on canvas, by Anthony Maulucci

San Miguel's "Art Mall" and the Cuban Phenomenon

A recent Saturday visit to Fabrica Aurora, the premier gallery space in San Miguel, prompted my thoughts on the question – Where are the art buyers? This visit followed closely on the heels of an article in the NYTimes about artists in Cuba. It seems that many international art collectors have been making art buying trips to Havana despite the fact that Cuban artists have no access to the internet and are unable to promote their work online. My speculation is that word of mouth is working for them on a very large scale. But back to the question of buyers in San Miguel. I spent an hour or so observing the people coming into Fabrica, and there were many on this particular Saturday. They were mostly young, middle-class Mexicans with one or two small children. They were well dressed and looked like they could afford the purchase of a $5000 (USD) painting. However, an interest in serious art did not appear to be the primary reason for their visit. Rather, they were gathered in the courtyard taking group photos of themselves before moving on to look at weathered doors, woven wall hangings, and antique pieces of furniture. “Perhaps one in a hundred people who come here are serious buyers,” I thought. And I am probably right. So artists who have set up shop in this very expensive, high-end “art mall” are struggling to pay the rent, and that is not the kind of struggle that fosters great art. In conclusion, I would say that the Cuban artists are far more fortunate. They have gone on quietly creating art without any help from the internet and now the buyers are showing up at their studios. Quite a remarkable development.

Caveat Artifex

There is universal agreement about the existence of art in San Miguel: Everybody wants it. But merely as a kind of pleasurable lifestyle accessory and not as a sacred creation to be approached with awe and regarded with reverence. Very few people, it seems, want serious art, art that challenges conformity and provokes thought, art that is soulful, symbolic, and deeply felt. Very few people here are interested in really looking at and contemplating serious art, art that peers through the cracks in our collective psyche. So, if you’re an artist whose work goes beyond “pretty pictures,” don’t be fooled by all the hype about art and the good life in San Miguel and think twice before you move here.