No, I don't mean the STD variety. I mean a certain individual who's initials are VD (supposedly in Iraq, of all places) who tried to get me involved in some sort of gem-smuggling scam (maybe money laundering as well) as well as get one of my limited edition pieces. I ended up shredding both of the $2,500-over-my-asking-price checks she overnighted. I've saved all the evidence - it got to be so weird - many names involved, many people calling me, things just got weirder and weirder. No one can say my life is dull!
I guess what I've gotten out of this is I try to give people the benefit of the doubt, and I just kept smelling fish, so I hung in there and sure enough, it was a scam. I'm now in the process of setting up paypal on everything, so if anyone wants to purchase they just do it through paypal, and that's that! The life of the "online artist"...sure I'm not the only one. Then, of course, there's the ongoing struggle of the "orphan acts" which means pretty much anyone could download and use your work with no penalty (i.e. steal). My policy has always been pretty liberal - I know people can download my image if they want. But I was really surprised to learn from a certain person in the art world I deal with that he himself "steals" works from well-known artists and doesn't care if they don't have a signature or are "originals" or "limited edition prints". "I have the work, don't I?" he said. WOW. To make it worse, he himself is an artist.
I had a fun day yesterday, talking with a fellow artist who gave me a book on using alternative archival materials in the printing process. He saw my extremely messy apartment and pronounced "you really ARE just like me!" I know it's worse than usual now, but I've been so busy with other things (more important!) Here's the pics to prove it...(coming up shortly!)
Some people pet, I wet...
It was 100 degrees in my apartment last night, even with the a/c on 24/7. Driving to a teeth-cleaning appt. in Encino last night, my car temp registered a whopping 118 degrees. The wind was horrible, and when I arrived home after the short walk from the car (and from the dentist office) I felt like my skin had 3rd degree burns (of course it didn't, but touching my arm, my skin was extremely hot!)
I'm glad my 21-year-old is still eating, I worry about her in this heat. I was supposed to visit my parents today but called it off. Just going to stay home and do small projects around the house instead. Too hot to do ANYTHING much! I might call off a visit to Long Beach tomorrow to visit the ex and his wife if this heat continues.
It's so weird. It feels like the Apocalypse or something (I'm not religious, but this global warming extreme weather stuff is just so bizarre). CNN is practically the "extreme-weather" channel these days. Flipping through cable channels, it seems at least a fourth of them are devoted to stories about extreme weather. Earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, tropical cyclones, heatwaves, you-name-it it's happening!
On another note, I just called Karl Johnson after sending his wife info on the Los Angeles County Arts Commission. Seems he has the sculpture garden on Radford at the CBS studios project wrapped up, however the big fourth of July unveiling is slightly altered. Instead of all of the sculptures being unveiled to the public, six sculptures will be situated in the VIP room (the head of the studios has conferred with the Studio City chamber of commerce and came up with this compromise, as they are busy filming on soundstage 10 where the sculptures were to be placed). What a coup for Karl! Now if he could just get the LACAC involved (they don't have any opportunities posted now, but Karl needs a lot of prep - such as a website - first anyhow).
I found out about LACAC while researching Lola Scarpitta's artist parents. Salvatore Scarpitta did the same thing my great-grandfather did, sculpture and bas-relief on the outside of buildings. Please read the wikipedia on Salvatore (I wish it would get into more detail). Info about Leo Castelli is very interesting too.
I should call Diana Zlotnick back today, and my friend fussboots. Are you reading this fussy?
The apartment I'm losing (whole building getting evicted).
What an insane day today!
First off, got a frantic call from a neighbor. Seems I hadn't yet seen the EVICTION notice on my door. She got one with my name, and I got hers.
It seems the landlord wishes to avoid paying the correct amount in my case for the relocation fee, and also to evict me in six months as they are everyone else (my understanding is they need to give me a year's notice).
Been spending the entire day calling lawyers, etc. trying to deal with this. Trust me...they won't mess with me!
Then I get a call from Rex Bruce at LACDA, asking if I wish to be in his most recent show. Details follow:
Jurors:
Howard Fox
Curator of Contemporary Art, L.A. County Museum
of Art (LACMA)
Rex Bruce
Director, Los Angeles Center for Digital
Art
Enter our juried competition for digital art, digital photography, video and new media. All styles of artwork and photography where digital processes of any kind were integral to their creation are acceptable. We accept digital art stills of any kind, digital photogaphy, short experimental time based video, video loops, mobile media, interactive media, internet art (net.art) and new media works of any kind.
The competition is international, open to all geographic locations.
Video, interactive and new media are accepted by DVD/CD. Internet art (net.art) entries are viewed at their original URL. Still image entries are acceped by jpeg upload. Still image winners are printed by the gallery (up to 24"x36") for exhibition to eliminate the need for shipping, especially for international artists.
The selected winners will be exhibited as the central focus of the DigitalArt.LA expo (see below) in a large group exhibit at the LACDA gallery. The show will be widely promoted and will include a reception for the artists. Juror Howard Fox, Curator of Contemporary Art, LACMA, will attend the opening reception. The DigitalArt.LA expo runs August 14-16 (concurrent with and promoted by SIGGRAPH, the Downtown Art Walk and Downtown Film Festival - Los Angeles), the winners exhibit will remain in the gallery August 14-September 6.
DigitalArt.LA (http://DigitalArt.LA) is a multi-site international digital art expo in the Gallery Row area of Downtown Los Angeles organized by Rex Bruce and L.A. Center for Digital Art. The event includes exhibits by area galleries, theatres, and venues near LACDA. Many venues will host screenings and exhibits for major out of area institutions including Centre Pompidou Forum des Images, UCR | California Museum of Photography, Lanzia Center for Contemporary Art (Danzig, Poland), and the Austin Museum of Digital Art. The central exhibit will be the international winners show of juried submissions hosted by LACDA.
and have your work viewed by a major curator!
Exhibitors and Participants at DigitalArt.LA 2008 include:
• Los Angeles Center for Digital Art – Winners Show
• Centre Georges Pompidou | Forum des Images
• UCR | California Museum of Photography
• Laznia Center for Contemporary Art, Poland
• Howard Fox, Curator of Contemporary Art, LACMA
• Downtown Film Festival - Los Angeles
• SIGGRAPH
• Austin Museum of Digital Art
• Niche.LA Video Art
• Found Gallery L.A.
• Phantom Galleries L.A.
• Bert Green Fine Art
• El Nopal Gallery
• Spring Arts Collective
• Pharmaka Gallery
• Rowan Gallery
• Regent Theatre
• Creative Commons
• Artillery Magazine
• Coagula Art Journal
• It's Liquid
All entries are given special consideration for exhibiting at LACDA and outside exhibitions where we are featured. Artists participating in our competitions form the pool of artists from which we select the vast majority of those featured at LACDA and are often considered by our associated network of museums, galleries and curators. Proceeds from the competition support these gallery programs and the DigitalArt.LA expo. Juror Rex Bruce has curated and participated in over 50 exhibits since the founding of LACDA in 2004 and is internationally recognized as a leader and expert in the field.
****************
WOW!!!All this in one day!
To be continued...
Erin came up today, and we had a wonderful time!
Erin and I, who are both fans of the movie Laurel Canyon, drove down said street, passing the market that was featured in several scenes in the movie. We went for a wonderful repast at Real Food Daily, then came back up Laurel and explored the market. Lots of very unusual items from all around the world, esp. British products. Got some delicious Belgian chocolate, and she got a bottle of their own brand of red wine (cheap, $6.99) for her hubster.
The housing inspector just left. I admit although this building is falling apart, the landlord's daughter (now in charge of maintenance) is a sweetie. And about to pop with her first child.
Erin (a fan of my art) really likes the following piece:
Woman, what a week (last week, now). Had a blast Tuesday with a friend (we did a bit on a watercolor together). Actually an old boyfriend. Haven't had that much fun in years, sad to say...
Had a wonderful day visiting with my family yesterday. Really enjoy seeing my nieces that I hardly ever see (they live in Vista, near San Diego, with my brother). We played with bubbles and rode a tandem bicycle. I really enjoy my younger brother's new girlfriend. And my 82 year-old mother was so happy to see me "dressed up" (I wore a dress, my my!). The whole Lambert clan rarely gets together. My mom showed me this:
This is Paul Soberanes, my mom's father. I have artists on both sides of my family. I sure wish I could track down some of his landscapes. And now my nieces want to be artists, like "Aunt Melissa!" (or Auntie-M, which I call myself on occasion...)
I will always treasure the beautiful time we had yesterday. Just hanging out at the house eating food brought in, no restaurant involved. It was perfect.
Apologies to those who actually read my blogs. Lately I've been using VOX ony to post artworks that link to main website.
Wow. Getting increasingly organized and de-cluttered (pruning inbox, filing, etc.) left time to read old posts. Realizing I miss keeping up on my OWN life with dates (I'll forget if I don't blog!) Ive decided to spend a few minutes here and there (rotator cuff tear prevents too much typing in any one period) to continue this blog.
I've had some rather interesting events happen recently...requests to reprint my art in an Art and Science journal in Basque (I'll believe it when I see it), a very strange series of emails turning into nothing more than an attempt to involve me in either an outright scam or money-laundering scheme, requests for "studio visits" where the person had no intention of buying but wanted me to "mentor" them, etc.
I honestly think that unless one is a Thomas Kinkead, Murakami or Warhol (Lola tells me he gave limited edition prints a bad name by repeatedly re-issuing "limited editions), selling art and navigating the scene to find the top 1% wealthy (the only ones who will survive this world-wide economic recession/soon depression) is near impossible. Also surprised to find out recently that in order to combat the bad name LE prints have with the knowledgeable art crowd, artists who sell LE prints are turning to putting their thumb prints on the back for verification. The widespread digital age has made the ripping off of visuals/signatures all-too-common (wonder how many people have "stolen" my work?)
Even a framer I know of (who shall forever remain nameless) said he got a print from a famous artist from an employee of a print house (a common practice amongst employees at print houses, he claims). "Was it signed?" I wanted to know. "No, who cares, I have the print! Plus it's easy to fake a signature" Was his reply. Wow...does no-one care about authenticity anymore? I guess unless you're a collector who wants to re-sell (usually to make 'a killing') down the road, most people don't care or consider the ethics of owning work they didn't buy or obtained illegally.
Part of me doesn't care if people steal my work, thinking of it as flattery. I know during the Napster days a lot of peole were introduced to music they then bought they never would have learned about otherwise. However increasingly as I learn more it does bother me. And now the All-Powerful Google is behind legislation to make it nearly impossible for artists to protect their copyright privileges
A summary from owoh.org:
A radical proposed change to US copyright law would allow infringer's to exploit the rights of copyright holders with little or no penalty. Two bills currently on the “rocket docket” would let infringer's “orphan” any copyrighted work whose owner the infringer failed to locate through a vaguely defined “reasonably diligent” search. The creative arts industry, including world-renowned artists, designers, photographers, manufacturers, and licensing businesses have united to oppose this legislation.
Do we have a chance? Methinks naught.
To be continued...
