Mr. Martin Goes To Chelsea

First of all let me just say, for all of the older people in the imaginary world that makes up my readership, 'They don't make 'em like they used too.' Of course I'm referring to movies and people, namely Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, James Stewart and Frank Carpra. I watched it again the other day and, of course the movie couldn't be more relevant now despite the fact that some cynics might accuse it of being wishy-washy. I actually don't find that to be true but...

Beyond the corruption of Washington and my feelings of semi-hopelessness about it, it reminded me of another thing I've been thinking about lately. As an art student, at least at low profile, under the radar, dark horse schools that I went to, you hear rumors about how corrupt the art world is. That it is ruled my money and devoid of the ethics that sometimes slip into other industries. That mega-collectors are able to manipulate the entire market for their own gain. Or whatever. Of course these things are true, they're true of any business that caters to the super rich. Maybe it shouldn't be that way, but then again, the super rich do keep things rolling, even if much of the things they keep rolling are bad artworks. The point is, they help the good stuff happen too.

I guess the thing that I'm concerned about is the games we poor artists can play. Everybody knows that for those artists willing and able, the art world is a dog that can be easily wagged. I guess that I just want to believe that for every Senator Joseph Mary Boone Paine and Jim Cecily Brown Taylor, there's also going to be a Senator Thomas Jefferson Smith Martin here in the art capital.