Artists As Spectator Sport

“The contact with manners then is education…” Dionysius of Heraclea, Ars Rhetorica

The past Saturday evening at the Tower Press Building took a turn for the bizarre, as supposed patrons of the arts participated in a fund raiser for a local non-profit organization. The traditional silent auction of non-profit benefit events now is supplanted with an auction of objets d’art, decorated by local area artists who donate their professional time and talents for charitable causes such as these.

Although the intent behind these good will activities is noble, these auctions actually have the counterproductive effect of devaluing the artists’ work, by being auctioned at a lower worth than their fair market value. For this event, the decorated items were Funky Diva purses. Minimum bids began at $50, which belies the time and effort that some of the artists put into their creations.

Among the most intricate purses was a multi-colored hand-beaded bag, and various hand-painted renderings including the Statue of Liberty, a portrait of a Funky Diva woman and several elaborately painted designs. An Oriental-style purse had a dragon motif with real fur and seashells. But bids on these purses did not seem to recognize true craftsmanship, creative flair or the use of top quality materials. Instead, one of the highest bids went for a purse that was elegant but quite simple (read “simply boring”) in design.

This provincial midwestern mentality and lack of sophistication was highlighted even further by a curious group of onlookers who hovered outside the door of one of the Tower Press’ resident artists. Residents of the first floor have been juried by a selection committee to gain the privilege of leasing the work-live space at a subsidized rate, because of the city’s tax credit program for the unique renovation of this historic landmark building.

Artist, fashion photographer and fashion designer, Georgio Sabino III, graciously opened his doors to this small group of inquisitive patrons. As they streamed in, rather than taking notice of his art, their initial focus and questions were on the studio space with inane comments like “Oh my God. This is so-o-o cool!”

Inevitably, the typical questions arose that surfaced on prior gallery hops: “Do you really live here?” and “Where do you sleep?” One of Sabino’s works, an abstract design of swirled paint target marks, overlapped a large newsprint spread of Iraq war military casualties, on a Pepto Bismol pink canvas background. A not very observant observer inquired, “And who are all these people?”

HELLO? What kind of zoo do you think this is?!

Sabino, however, kept his cool and simply responded, “Those are the number of military that have been killed so far in Iraq.”

While this mindlessness took place on one side of the studio, another man walked over to Sabino’s refrigerator and opened the door, looking in and asking, “And what does he eat?”

“Whatever starving artists eat,” I retorted, amazed at the crassness and gall of someone who would presume to intrude on the personal domain of this artist. Two other artists, couturier D.R. Ward and make-up artist Jason Kelly, also were present and witnessed the circus antics of these individuals.

After the visitors left, the artists voiced their own opinions of these arts patrons:

“We are the ‘doctors’ of our profession. This is what we do. So why do you come in here and insult us by asking what we eat and where we sleep, for which you may as well ask, ‘Where we fuck?’ We are professionals who create aesthetics to make things in life beautiful for you. Why would you ask such stupid questions like that? This is what happens in Cleveland. This wouldn’t happen in New York,” remarked Sabino, who sold his fashions in a Soho boutique.

“We are treated like marsupials in a zoo. But I am not going to walk around in a pink boa just to declare that I am an artist,” said Ward, who experienced disbelief from event crowd members that she was one of the participating artists, because she did not “look” like an artist. (Ward is female and African-American.)

“Why is that nose in the air, when instead it should be looking down at those shoes that don’t match your outfit?” commented Kelly. He mimicked one of the spectators by parodying with the question, “Wow, are those your pores?!”

“Yeah, and you didn’t believe the mirror when it showed you the truth this morning,” Kelly quipped in mock response.

“What do you mean you don’t have time [to buy art]? We’re all busy. This is a busy world. This is a microwave world. Your two seconds are up. You took time out from your busy day to come to an auction. Buy something!” mused Ward.

“So treat us like human beings on your spare time. And become part of the collecting public,” Sabino suggested.

But that suggestion presumes an appreciation for art grounded in awareness and education. If the arts in Cleveland are to survive and thrive, then arts education apparently needs to be integrated into more places than just the Cleveland Municipal Schools. Some art appreciation 101 through adult education may be in order -- as well as a couple of classes by Miss Manners.
From Cool Cleveland reader Cindy Plagata cplagata_2010ATyahoo.com

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