"Romancing the Looky-Loos" by Dave Hickey

"Romancing the Looky-Loos" by Dave Hickey is an exploration of the current art culture. Hickey begins with a conversation between Waylon Jennings, a new up and coming musician, and himself. They discuss the difference between fans. Jennings states that when playing for people who know you and your music, you're free to do what you want because you know your audience understands you and you're free to experiment. However, when one plays at a concert they are playing for a group of people who are there because you're "famous" and they "want to be like you." He distinguishes these fans in groups, "looky -loos"- people just observing with no real passion, "spectators"- people who like what's in at the time, and" participants"- those who move on once something becomes popular. This is than related to the art world. There will always be those who like a work of art because the artist is currently famous and really have no knowledge of what the work means or its significance and there are those who will hate a work of art because its popular or cliché. Many artists who come into fame are accused of "selling- out." Hickey states that participants increase the value of work by buying it. Once an artist’s work is known to sell it will only increase in value.
This view on the art world seems to be a bit discouraging; yet based on truth. There is a harsh world out there of politics that come along with anything. Art included. There will always be critics and audiences judging ones work. Nothing is exempt from that.
However, if one starts playing into those roles they start to lose the importance of why one makes art or what the art itself really stands for. While criticism exists, and "looky -loos," and "spectators," there are actually artists out there whose concern isn't just about the audience but about making work because it's important to them despite the harsh world around them.

current work

inspiration

Edward Hopper:






Edward Hopper's rendering of the urban life has been a huge inspiration in my work. His simplified depictions of cities and daily urban life, and use of color is something I try to emulate in my work. Hopper was born in Nyack, New York. He studied in the Ashcan School of American art. He painted realistically when abstraction and cubism were the leading styles. His work is considered classic and still remains strong on the walls of art galleries next to new contermporary work.





Richard Estes:









Richard Estes is an American painter known for his photo realistic paintings. It is his reflective warped surfaces he started working on in 1967 have been a great influence in my recent work.

















David Hockney:







David Hockney is an English artist who was considered a British pop artist as well as an expressionist. He attended Royal College of Art. His ability to simplify scenes into strong shapes and vibrant colors has made him on the the most influential artist in this century.





Fairfield Porter:









Porter was a self taught artist who attended Harvard. His representational art mainly consists of domestic scenes and landscapes. What makes his work so impressive is that he created figural art during the height of abstract expressionism. His use of simple shape and color while still making work that looks life like has been highly inspirational in my work.





Eric Fischl:









Eric Fishcl was born in New York city and grew up in Long Island where he became intrigued by the "country club culture." The parallel between reality and image of reality people try to create for themselves. His paintings have been considered "psycho-sexual suburban dramas." It is his ability to make the viewer feel as thought they have just walked in on a private moment that makes his art so intense. We almost feel a sense of guilt for witnessing a private moment in anothers life that make likely should be kept private. This sense of the painting directly effecting the viewers makes him work dynamic and strong.





Jenny Saville:









Jenny Saville is an English painter. She obtained a degree from Glasgow School of art and University of Cincinnati. She is known for her paintings of extremely overweight women that create a sense of discomfort for the viewer. However, he lush use of paint and beautiful colors makes her work beautiful despite it's disturbing content.




Cecily Brown:









Cecily Brown was born in London and recieved her bachelors degree from Slade School of art in London. Her first show was in New York. Her work has been considered controversal due to its sexual content and her feminist stance in a male dominated art world. Her work has opened doors for women artists. Her thick paint, and brushy texture create a true "painters painting" that are pretty to look at even without considering the sexual content.





Albert Oehlen:








Albert Oehlen was born in Germany and has had many solo exhibitions as well as showing at the Saatchi gallery.