Dissecting the Scene.....

So when you really start dissecting the art scene in Chicago.....you know....

Columbia vs. The Institute, you know the whole 2D vs. installation/performance, but we all end up waiting tables anyway. Seriously....no one should be paying 40 grand a year for the chance to gather change from between the ketchup bottles and the ashtrays. Stop paying art schools...it's just another corporation.....I mean have you driven through University Village?

River North vs. Pilsen, I mean can Pilsen really be that different when they're using the same lame model as River North. God save me from that sterile sophistication all galleries strive for. Can we ever escape the Nibblers? Will there ever be enough cubes of cheese?

Pilsen vs. River West, same thing here....I'm starting to think the same thing that is wrong with politics is what's wrong with art. All the wrong people seek out the power so all you end up with is bad policy.

And then the whole Lumpen crowd where you can't really tell if there is any real work happening beyond the Happenings....and the drugs...and the cartoons.......and the overpriced pretensions at Sonotheque........and the PBR endorsements. Probably not.

I mean making T-shirts has suddenly become a important pursuit?
We'll file that under Bicycle Messenger, and DJ and Graffitti Artist......
Maybe.... but where does commerce end and art begin, or vise versa? If art is just one more form of commerce then how can we defend it as a noble pursuit? We may as well spend our time counterfeiting money.

-Mortimer Jones
Malformed Partial Sputnik
Parts and Labor Collective