Art for the Entrepreneurs: Artrepreneurship

For other young artists like myself - I implore you. I have an entrepreneurial spirit, a sharp learning curve and the desire to be better. In past endeavors this spirit has led me to sell cookies to classmates in primary school - or selling drums from Ghana in college to make it through my last semester. I get energized when thinking about a new way to sell something or a product that may really catch on. I've had lots of ideas and different outcomes but my realization about art has been a recent one that I'd like to share with you.

This is my mantra, "I am most valuable when I am making art"

Simple, yes. But no matter how much time I read about developing websites or selling odds and ends or bartending or consulting the fact is that if I work on a painting for 5 hours that sells for $1000 - then I am working for $200 an hour. Besides monetarily, I am most *myself* when I am making art because I express myself when making art. Art is where I communicate ideas and make concepts manifest on canvas. When I am making art I not only am being productive in a money sense but I am closest to being who I really am - and that is where I find value.

Before this realization I saw the value in making art - but art did not stimulate my entrepreneurial cravings. To me, art was something I made, I got to a gallery, I waited for someone to see it and contact me, I sold it... Not only is this system non-stimulating but it is also extremely passive. I know my gallerists are sometimes working to get my work known and sold - but as an artist am I *only* a production machine?

My recent merging of the two spirits have brought me to a place where I see my art as a product and that I need to taken the lion share of ownership in marketing it and getting it out there. This is my personal artrepreneurial revolution. I recently did a painting of Obama which I then scanned professionally and have available for reproductions on my site. This is not the end, however, my artrepreneurial revolution involves creating yourself as an online artist that mingles with other artists the way artists have done in communities for ages. This involves the fact that as an art lover myself I cannot afford even a modest piece of art. My reaction to that is looking for ways to not only make my art more accessible to many demographics but also to make it affordable. Many people my age may be more likely to invest in a digital image of an artist's work to 'hang' on their social networking page. Some people may be more likely to buy a skin for their laptop, cell phone or ipod that has an artist's image on it than a painting to hang on the wall.

Once I realized the power of an image as a product - my role as an artist will never be the same.

I would love to hear your feedback - where are you in your career as an artist? Are you considering different marketing strategies? Have you come to grips with the reality that as an artist you are the producer, the marketing rep, the salesperson, the accountant, the web designer and the CEO of your company: I'manartist inc.?

For quick resources on artrepreneurship - check out these sites:
www.theartrepreneur
www.judydunn.blogspot.com/
www.artbizblog.com/
www.arts-careers.com/
www.artpromote.com/resources.shtml

That should start you off with the art business stuff - check out these sites too though:
http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/
http://www.gmarketing.com/
http://www.webmarketingezine.com/

The book that addresses my specific concerns and desires has yet to be written - it takes compiling different ideas from different people to make something that makes sense to you.

So - What do you do?

This question probably more than any other question related to my work sends my mind in a hundred different directions. I'm sure many artists struggle between their identity as members of the "real working world" and as artists. At times it takes split second tempering to decide what kind of answer the person is really looking for. A lot of times I cop out and go with my "real world job" as my answer. "I'm a bartender." .... as if I wasn't *really* an artist.


While I don't believe that people should wrap their identity up with what they do to make money - there are certain things that cannot escape the day to day reality of what you do.


After painting for 13 years I am only now coming to grips with the fact that the answer to, "what do you do?" is, "I am an artist."


Okay, the next question is "Oh - what kind of art do you do". This is the real source of dread for me in answering the question because I am doomed to understate my mission. My canned answer is "I paint people".


In case I ever meet you and I give you this canned, halfway answer - here is the real answer. "I paint people in a way that diffuses the social construction of race and casts the subjects of my paintings in colors that do not reflect the melanin-esque realities but the reality of humanity. I want to not only paint humans as humans (and not members of melanin groups) but in an empowering way that speaks to their most realized identity." This usually will lead to people assuming that I think race doesn't exist. Here is my response, "To say that when I look at a black person I don't see color would be ignoring the reality that they have a heritage rooted in their historical context as an heir to their race. But I do believe that the constructs we call 'race' our contrived and social in nature and while recognizing that someone's skin color may influence their identity; I believe that as humans we have stronger ties to each other than as members of our races."
At this point, depending on who I was talking to, would give me a look of consternation and ask, "are you saying that you don't believe there are inequalities or other consequences of race?" No - I am not saying that. I am saying, in reaction to the inequalities and consequences of race and ethnicity in the world I want to create an environment through my art where people can look at people with fresh sight - beyond the visual baggage we have inherited.


This conversation may or may not continue depending on the interest level of my conversation partner... the thing that makes this conversation difficult to spring on people is that it is an involved process that has many facets. So while trying to think of a concise explanation I want to be able to express the meaning behind my paintings.


Try me sometime when you bump into me - or shoot me an e-mail. Ask me, "What do you do?" and be ready for me to ask you.

Long time since last post

It's been a long time since my last post and I'll do my best to be more disciplined in updating this blog. Since I last wrote the world has changed and Babylon has chosen an Aethiopian as its leader. This changes too much to expound in a quick blog - leave it to say I will incorporate this new truth into my blog.
Since I last wrote I started a new job that I am now 6 months into. I started a new business which you can find at www.liquidartisan.com. I reformatted my website making room for different streams of my contributions. I started a semester at Brookhaven college where I am now wrapping up the fall semester.
In short - personal development continues.

Rasta Lessons: Dreadlocks

I'm going to try to compile different explanations for dreadlocks from the vault of Asher's thoughts. :)

In my opinion - there seems to be more good reasons for wearing dreadlocks than not.

Popularized by the Rastafarian movement, dreadlocks are associated with ganja culture and rebellion. However, dreadlocks have been worn long before the "Dreads" from Jamaica. Dreadlocks have been found worn by Egyptian mummies. Dreads are worn by Nazerites in Judaism. It is also said that James, the brother of Jesus wore dreadlocks down to his ankles. It is possible that dreadlocks were worn by early Christians. Dreadlocks are worn by Sathus in Hinduism as well as by Coptic Christians. Closer to the Rastas heart, dreadlocks were worn by the soldiers in Kenya during the Mau Mau uprising (1952-1960). This uprising involved Kenyan ethnic groups rebelling against colonial rule. To the Rastas, dreadlocks are supported by the biblical reference to Samson.

Rastafarianism started as a movement in the 1930's but dreads didn't gain mass appeal until about the 1950's. The attitude behind it was that (among other things) the colonial powers want the people to look how they want people to look. But as we rebel against the colonial powers we will not look how they want us to look. We will be dreadful to look upon. Thus, dreadlocks.
Dreadlocks also symbolize the lion's mane. Associations with the lion draw reference to Haile Selassie I as the conquering lion of Judah. Lions I believe also bring imagery of the mother continent to the mental foreground. Dreads also represent roots. Rastafarians have a strong sense of history and there is a draw to restore things like culture to the way it was before colonialism. This kind of thinking is roots thinking.

Dreadlocks can be an identifier in that the longer they are the longer you have belonged to the faith. You can also tell alot by the color of the locks. Locks will naturally turn brown or even grey. Some people who wear dread locks are called Natty Dreads because they dye their locks black to make them look nice. Natty Dreads are most likely to be wearing dreads for fashion. Natty is a word that means 'pretty'.

On the reverse side - according to a popular Morgan Heritage song - "You don't haffi be dread to be Rasta" You don't need to wear locks to live a Rasta lifestyle.

Rasta Lesson: Archibald Dunkley, Joseph Hibbert, Robert Hinds

This post is a combined post of three early Rastafari leaders because there is not a great deal of literature out there about any one of them in particular. This post is just to cover the ground level of early rastafarian leaders. These three men, Dunkley, Hibbert and Hinds were along the same lines as the more prominent early rasta leader, Leonard Howell. All four began preaching independently of each other in the slums of West Kingston, Jamaica where they discovered each other and a movement was born. 

Dunkley was a Jamaican seaman who studied the Bible for 2 years before concluding that Selassie was the messiah about which Marcus Garvey had prophesied. They all subscribed to the Garvey ideas of Back to Africa and of an Ethiopianism philosophy. Dunkley had much prestige along with Howell and they were attributed with divine characteristics. They were arrested around the same time and Dunkley was also committed to an asylum later in life. Dunkley along with Hibbert may be responsible for some of the small strains of mysticism in rastafarianism. They had both spent time in the Masonic Lodge. More specifically the Ancient Mystic Order of Ethiopia. 

While Hinds began preaching with Howell it is said that after a time he went his own separate way. It's hard to find information on him specifically yet he is always lumped together with the other early rastafarian leaders.

In any case these men spread the message that Garvey started and Howell preached. They were a kind of group of 'apostles' for the early rastafarian church. 

In Defense of the Beautiful

This statement was written by Susan Mains and taken from www.susanmains.com

In Defense of the Beautiful

Contemporary Art is moved through a world-wide schedule of art fairs and biennales highly constructed by an establishment that designates its stars, who are rewarded by high price tags on works of questionable expression. These products may or may not stand the test of time when price and value would come into equilibrium.

 

The artists of the English-speaking Caribbean islands are largely ignored in the rarefied air of this art activity. Few of these artists have been able to step on to the stage of international recognition, to have their works seen or sold at these events. There are a host of reasons for this, but partially responsible is the very strong connection to and representation of the natural environment.

When a curator from North America or Europe looks at a landscape depicting the beauty of our islands, usually the work is dismissed as “kitsch” or art made as a souvenir for quick tourist sales. True, there is much that is sold that is not really art, but repetitive, stylized representation of easily identifiable icons—the palm trees, market ladies or beach scenes. However, for contemporary Caribbean artists to divorce themselves from the natural environment in favour of northern urban subjects, palettes and light is bowing to an establishment that resembles the colonial imperialism of our not too distant past.

 

High colour and contrast saturate our vision every moment that we look outside. While we live in relative peace, our human issues, our politics, our hopes and aspirations also are strong in contrast and dimension. The “identity search” that purportedly identifies Caribbean contemporary artist is perhaps an imposed ideology.

We know who we are. We are a rich island civilization framed by a synthesis of many peoples and cultures. We are those who have to dig deeply into our personal reserve of inner resources to deal with living in a part of the world where making art isn’t easy or convenient. Creativity springs from this inconvenience. We are not recognized within our own cultural milieu as being important contributors, yet we document our diverse and dynamic society within its achingly beautiful natural environment. And we are a people who faithfully rebuild after that same beauty turns on us in a violent hurricane or earthquake and destroys the work of a lifetime.

 

So when a Caribbean collector purchases a work of art from “home” he is not just buying something to decorate his walls. He is proclaiming with his dollars that this art work has great value. He is defying the deeply entrenched notion that whatever comes from “away” is intrinsically better than what is produced locally. He is casting his vote of confidence to the further building of this West Indian civilization that in terms of human development is a shining example to the rest of the world.

 

Therefore, I present this body of work of the beautiful Caribbean, with no apology

Rasta Lessons: Leonard Howell

Leonard Howell 1898-1981

Putatively founded the Rastafarian movement - he is considered the "First Rasta" and in some circles is considered as part of the Rasta Trinity along with Marcus Garvey and Haile Selassie I. Howell started preaching in 1933 that the newly crowned Ras Tafari Makonnen as Emporer Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia was God come to earth. He was the first to make this claim. Howell wrote "The Promised Key"  which is a codification of his teachings and a foundation on which early Rastafarianism was founded.

Howell had 6 foundations of Rastafari that he preached.

1. Opposition to the wickedness (oppressive structures summed up in the term "Babylon")

2. Dignity of the Black race (along with Marcus Garvey)

3. God's revenge on the wicked for their wickedness

4. The negation, persecution and humiliation of the government and legal bodies of wicked world

5. Preparation to return to Africa (repatriation)

6. Acknowledgement of Emperor Haile Selassie I as the Supreme Being and the only ruler of the Black people.

Howell was obviously inspired by Garvey's "Africa for the Africans" as well as reading the Bible through African lenses. Howell was so set on repatriation and Selassie that he would sell pictures of Selassie and tell people that they were passports to Africa. Garvey looked down on this as a Methodist. 

Howell's philosophy was of self-reliance leading to self-responsibility. The solution to the Black problems needed to come from the Black people. Howell was arrested and imprisoned for his ideas. Charged with sedition (Jamaica was still under colonial rule) Howell was imprisoned for 2 years but his message was spread. Howell was relentless in his criticism of the government.

Once released Howell found recluse in the hills of Jamaica and founded a Rasta community called Pinnacle. There he lived in community with thousands of his followers. Pinnacle was a safe place from the oppression of the colonial society. Pinnacle was ransacked by the government in 1954 - they were tired of the large amounts of marijuana being cultivated there. The Rastafarians returned to the urban ghettos of Jamaica where their poverty helped strengthen their belief in the Rasta ideology. 

It's interesting to note by 1933 the trademark dreadlocks have still not developed in the rastafarian ideology. Howell was a 'dapper' gentleman wearing three piece suits and a beard like Haile Selassie I. Dreadlocks will start to form during the Italo-Ethiopian War starting in 1935. Dreadlocks and other elements of the Rasta lifestyle hadn't really caught on until the early 1950's during a reformation of Howell's ideas.

Howell most likely died a dissident's death in a mental institution.