Ever go outside after dark and just sit quietly and watch what happens?

I am fond of your Golden Eagle Andrew but I Love the picture on your home page.

Andrew et alia, maybe artists are children who never quite grow up. I know I’m fascinated by critters of all kinds - even a moth, a bee, I can look at for a long time. I have loads of photographs of insects, spiders, and so on which I’m sure any sane, levelheaded person would wonder why the hell I took. But they’re beautiful bits of life and I can’t pass them up! Yesterday I was overtaken by some vivid orange lichen on a concrete post, fergawdsakes. A week ago at an agility trial in Idaho Falls someone had found a newt / salamander under some hay in a barn stall - I had to hold it and look at it for a while (even though surrounded by the bedlam and entertainment of dogs and agility everywhere) - it was so unexpected and out of context.

It only takes a moment to appreciate the magic of the ordinary, or to see the extraordinary in the quotidian, but one must be in a state of mind receptive to that appreciation. It’s a state of wonderment more particular to children (which explains why the kids stopped to listen to Joshu Bell) a state gradually bludgeoned from adults by the ragged business of living (which explains why the parents urged their children to move on).

This issue of context has often frustrated me. On the one hand, I’m appalled by the blythe affirmations of the “museum-goer” who will nod his approval or exclaim “Brilliant!” in reference to an utter piece of dreck he would not have given a second glance were it not in a twenty-million dollar building on an impressive pedestal surrounded by velvet ropes. Conversely, and I’ve often brought this up in answer to those who condemn representational art, that the very fact that an artist, through sheer love and devotion, interprets the details of a leaf, a blade of grass, or a clump of fur, draws attention to and in fact elevates that subject, causing it to BE NOTICED BY THE MASSES in a way it otherwise would not be. It is perhaps a sad comment on humanity that the bird or ground squirrel or garden snail that I could happily observe for hours on end needs to be in a frame on a wall for others to appreciate it as I do. On the other hand, as an artist it is not just my job, but my privilege to do justice to the subject in question by granting it the CONTEXTUAL RELEVANCE of fine art.

As to the question of the context in which we present our own work, I can only offer that when an artist sells his work, he is really selling himself. Of course everyone must start somewhere (and all the best stories have humble beginings) but if an artist presents himself as polished, professional, and deserving of the best representation, that is what he will get. If, on the other hand, he settles for a collective where his work is smothered by amateur watercolors from the local senior center, that image becomes equally manifest in his career. This is not to say that the best of us cannot suffer setbacks regardless of how we present ourselves or with whom we are aligned, but certainly the old adage about character applies to the artist as well: you can tell a lot about a man by the company he keeps. And so too it goes for all of his associations.

How do we know that what looks like a scribble on a scrap of paper (hanging next to our own masterpiece) is not actually a “great” work of art?

In his later years, Picasso made lots of scribbles and sold them for lots of money (but they were still scribbles)

But…I was open to being snagged by something interesting, being a visitor. However, I very, very rarely stop to listen to street musicians, much less leave any money.

Maybe New York is such a target rich environment culturally that street musicians in general don’t stand out, especially in a place where people are focused on trying to get from Point A to Point B. In that sense, location counts, but really has nothing to do with how good someone is. And with all the ambient sound in a major metro station, I think people can be forgiven for not hearing the full wonderfulness of Bell’s playing.

As far as the gallery question, I think it depends. I’ve been in galleries with ok work and the good stuff really jumps out. I’ve been to shows where the mediocre did set an unfortunate tone that the good work couldn’t overcome.

The York group’s name is Elephant Talk. They’ve gone heavily neo-celtic and they rock.
The latest CD that I know of is called “Natty Loon”.