art-a-whirl

This weekend is Art-A-Whirl. I have been excited about it for a month. This does not explain why I did not visit the Art-A-Whirl website or determine, beyond my vague notion of where NorthEast Minneapolis is, where exactly NorthEast Minneapolis is. Today I went to one gallery. Gallery @ Fox Tax. The work was thought-provoking. I found myself staring at it for considerable lengths of time. I also found myself trying not to stare at the woman working there. She had the bluntest haircut I have ever seen and a voice that suggested a nearby source of helium. When a gentleman walked in to enquire as to where the balloons had flown off to, I am certain he was thinking the same thing as I- are you drinking them slowly? Truthfully, I had watched the balloons blow away from across the street. But I do wonder if she was drinking straight from the tap.

In addition to the 4 artists whose work was displayed in the main gallery, there were artists with studios on the 2nd and 3rd floors. I looked at their work while they looked at me. There was a 4-part series of portraits that looked like an abstract drooling John Heder. I wondered how offended the artist would be if I commented on his self-portraiture. Because the artist was nice-looking and the subject of his work was slightly monstrous. Which got me thinking about how rude it would be to walk around to every gallery and pretend that all the most hideous depictions were self-portraits. There were only two things that I would have considered buying, if a very recent transaction at the ATM hadn't warned me against that very act. The first- an unfinished work by the portrait artist. A pencil drawing on raw wood of two figures that he would eventually paint. The second- a pair of bicycle fenders painted by Jennifer Davis for last year's show.

There are a lot of differing viewpoints on what makes art good. For lack of a better standard, I subscribe to the subjective school of thought. Good art is art that I like. I judge wine and friends accordingly.