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"ERUDITE?"
the story of the video |
look for this markon my new work since 1992 |
The story of "ERUDITE?", the video, deals with the life of an artist 20 years into his experience looking toward education for socialization and pasa tiempo. First I lost my girlfriend, then my drivers license for a year, (In Calif. this is social suicide.) so boredom led me to the closest school, Santa Barbara City College. It was about a mile up the beach from my studio. |
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There, they led me into a re-entry program designed for mothers without partners, women in general and people of color especially. I jumped on a smooth band wagon that I was told could end up with me having a university degree. I attended enough meetings of this re-entry group to get the idea that I was not welcome at the meetings because of my gender, nationality and color (or lack thereof). Even though I didn't fit in with the others in my re-entry group, it turned out that I was actually eligible for this program and there wasn't anything they could do about it, except continue their attitude. I, as a White-American-Male, had earned the title of Chauvinist-Pig and not only that, I eternally was one of the Horrible ones that had made the whole world miserable, for the above groups, for ever before. Of course this is not the only thing I learned during the four years of erudition. I learned about the DECONSTRUCTION MOVEMENT IN ART, but I couldn't believe the University system would pretend to teach something that they were at the same time, killing. This was not the first paradox nor the last in this story. My previous 20 years PRIMITIVE paintings had no merit, according to university ritual custom. From the beginning I had to work through a block that my teachers had, seeing me in their class (that crazy old artist from town). One Art teacher said " George Franklin, what are you doing in my class???" She had been a friend when she was a student years ago. While attending City college I had the pleasure of taking classes in Art studio and art history. I say pleasure but maybe I should say luxury because these programs put a chronological fix on the monuments of art that were familiar to me as a primitive artist. The more I studied, the more I felt that the abstract painters had put their thing over on enough people to give it a reality that I hadn't seen before. The reality of Abstract art was that it was a blockade to any uneducated artist. Sophisim presented as sophistication. It seemed that the more I investigated the drive of presentation in the reviews of these works, the more contrived were the persuasions of the value of these works. The whole situation seemed to be verifying my suspicion reguarding the '50's Abstract Expressionist movement, that it was only a plot from New York regional cliques. When I think about it, they really got me, and that was the most difficult part, I guess that was the lesson. Abstract art is to talk about, not to listen and looking doesn't help. THIS DOCUMENT IS BEING WORKED ON AND MAY NEVER STOP CHANGING. April, 2001 |
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