Cynda mary's school of art tip of the day; SOMETIMES A BAD REVIEW IS JUST WHAT YOU NEED...here's mine; written by an LA artist educator who i did and do still admire; Ruth Weisberg. The last paragraph has stayed in my mind all these years ( it was 1985!) and has pushed me to be compulsive about perfecting every technical /formal issue that i can in my painting. At this point it seems quite prophetic too...would love to see her give Damien Hirst (sp?) a tongue lashing! From Artweek, nov 23, 1985; here's the last paragraph;..."it seems to me that the temper of the times encourages impressIonable artists to be the worst possible artist, rather than the best. In desperate bids for attention, the volume is turned up and the work is turned out. We all suffer from a degraded context in which to make and view art, because a POWERFUL ELEMENT OF THE ART WORLD EXCUSES MEDIOCRITY IF THERE IS SUFFICIENT ENERGY OR MARKETABILITY, AGAIN AND AGAIN MISTAKING ATTENTION-GETTING ACTIVITY FOR SUBSTANCE"
