Embarrassment is Conservative
Over at Lantana Projects, Ian Lemmonds recently interviewed Frederic Koeppel, the art writer for the Commercial Appeal. In a question about getting people to pay attention to your art, he says:Show as much as you can at spaces that are not embarrassing (no beauty salons, frame stores and pet shops).But later, in a question about the changes in the Memphis art scene,
We have more alternative spaces, more independent and non-profit groups, more artists (and many of the same artists), but it’s clearly still a struggle to make and sell art in what is essentially an artistically conservative town.Which leads me to this: maybe we're an artistically conservative town because we label mundane venues as embarrassing.
Maybe.
Because I think we should be an artistically progressive town, and because maybe is good enough for me, here's where we should show art:
- convenience stores
- car washes
- parking garages
- anywhere Louise Dunavant's paintings hang.
- barbecue shops
- MATA buses and trolleys
- back yards
- front yards (especially Prince Mongo's front yard)
- public schools
- ATMs
- clubs and coffee houses.
- feed stores
- independent used bookstores
- police precincts
- pawn shops
- churches
- multiplexes
- sidewalks
- cafeterias
- empty buildings
- empty lots
- Second Life
- greenhouses and nursery grounds
- tattoo parlors
- anywhere Thomas Kinkade's paintings hang
- junkyards
- martial arts academies
- where newscasters get their hair cut
- the sides of the Pyramid
- any setting of a Craig Brewer movie
- any setting of a John Michael McCarthy movie
- tanning salons
- video stores
- animal shelters
- public libraries
- City Council chambers
- funeral homes
- liquor stores
- Chinese food buffets
- sno-cone emporiums
- everywhere else
But I just don't see how Memphis can build whitewalls around art and still shake artistic conservatism.
Labels: art, Memphis culture
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