That's a Wrap!

At least for 2011 anyway.

After today this blog will be maintaining radio silence until April 2012.

I'll be spending most of my time in the studio finishing new work and preparing for my 2012 New Collection Preview on April 16th.  

(Click here if you haven't signed up for your preview invite yet.)

 Stuff I Will Be Doing For the Next 3 Months 

Instead of Writing This Blog:

Studying French verb conjugations and reading Alexandre Dumas.   

What better way to brush up my French grammar and vocabulary than to spend a few months doing verb drills and passing an hour a day reading a fantastic French novel?  Weighing in at nearly 1000 pages, La Dame de Monsoreau should pose quite a challenge for the next few months. (I’m even an over achiever in my leisure time!)

Catching up with Ira Glass.

I stopped buying books in 2010 because my bookcases are overflowing with books I haven’t yet had time to read.  Now my Audible.com download manager is over-flowing with audio books I haven’t had time to listen to, and I can’t remember the last time I heard an episode of This American Life.  I plan on getting an earful for the next few months.

Rockin' out on my gee-tar.

I've been taking guitar lessons off and on for two years now.  How is it even possible that I'm still so dreadfully awful at it?  Like really. I suck at it. I can't even play one Bob Marley song.  This must be remedied immediately.

Giving my running shoes a real work-out.  

I used to hate the winter months.  But I quickly made peace with the long, cold, dark winter months by focusing on staying physically active.  There’s nothing like a swift brisk work out to lift your spirits. I have 2 pairs of running shoes.  If you’re extra quiet, and listen very carefully, you will actually hear them screaming my name.

Spending a week lounging on a beach in Thailand.

If the brisk work-out schedule doesn’t do its job, I have a back-up plan.  In February I'll probably spend a week lounging on the beach in Phuket, which from what I hear, is beautiful enough to lift anyone’s spirits. I just renewed my passport last week, so with a bit of luck, Thailand will be the first stamp! 

Getting my hands dirty. 
It's been an amazing year.  Perhaps one of the best I've had in a very long time. I love blogging and I love working with artists, but the part of my life that’s focused on the actual making of art is the fuel for everything else I do. 

Never forget--The work always comes first.

See ya in April!

BIG Expansive Ginormous Love,

-Kesha★

UPDATE: I won't be blogging here, But I'll be posting bite-sized updates and work-in-progress photos over on my facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/keshabruce

And if you REALLY miss me, you can always come chat with me on twitter:
https://twitter.com/keshabruce

What keeps you motivated and on track? Are you fueled by external validation?

Art Basel/ Miami Beach is said and done, and by now almost everyone has chimed in with a response to Charles Saatchi’s scathing review of the contemporary art world, but I still find myself in plenty of discussions about the state of affairs in the current Art market.

All these discussions have me thinking about the Louise Bourgeois retrospective I saw at the Centre Pompidou Paris a few years back. The retrospective presented 200 sculptures, paintings, drawings and engravings Bourgeois produced between 1940 and 2007.

What really struck me was how playful Bourgeois was in all of her work. She was willing to try, explore, and talk about anything. She pushed and worked with an idea in as many different ways as possible. The diversity of materials and forms was breath-taking  and her work ethic was nothing short of astounding. 

She was absolutely fearless. (Or perhaps just very, very brave.)

Here is an artist that started studying at the Sorbonne when she was 15 years old and then never stopped. Ever!  For two decades, after her professional debut, she as wholly ignored by the art world powers that be, but she just kept making art!  She just kept working.

Questions to consider:

What keeps you motivated and on track?

Could you keep making art for two decades without any professional validation?


How much of your self worth as an Artist is tied up in winning the right award, grant, residency, or fellowship?


How do praise, recognition, or external validation (or the lack there of) factor into the way you make your work or feel about your art career?

Leave your thoughts, opinions and two cents in comments.

BIG Love,


-Kesha★



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...But you already know that.












Above photo of Louise Bourgeois courtesy of Maplethorpe Gallery

Is the Contemporary Art World "Hideous"?

I’ve been finding myself in numerous conversations about the state of contemporary art lately.  Most of them are in response to all the dust that’s been kicked up surrounding celebrity British art collector Charles Saatchi’s recent comments about the current art world.

A few of Saatchi's juiciest quotes: 

“Being an art buyer these days is comprehensively and indisputably vulgar. It is the sport of the Eurotrashy, Hedge-fundy, Hamptonites; of trendy oligarchs and oiligarchs; and of art dealers with masturbatory levels of self-regard.”

"...I don't actually believe many people in the art world have much feeling for art and simply cannot tell a good artist from a weak one..." 

And my personal fave:

"Few people in contemporary art demonstrate much curiosity. The majority spend their days blathering on, rather than trying to work out why one artist is more interesting than another, or why one picture works and another doesn't."

Ouch! Click here to read his full tirade.

So what do you think?


Do you agree with any of Saatchi's opinions?

Is the contemporary Art World "hideous"?

Can the Art world tell a good artist  from weaker one?

Art Buyers: How do you make your purchasing decisions?

Artists: Where do you place yourself in all this?



Leave your opinions and ideas in comments.

BIG Love,

-Kesha★


If you found this discussion interesting, hit the re-tweet button, then click here to get on the ARTFIX Invite List. You'll thank me later. Trust me.

Plus, if you do this, there is a 99.99% chance that you are awesome.

...But you already know that.

Let's Be Honest---Are You Insane?

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again 

and expecting different results.”
- Albert Einstein

I will be the first to admit that I have suffered from insanity.

(The drawing above is a self-portrait as per my mental state circa 2002-2005.)

Over the course of my art career, I spent years trying the same “so-called” marketing techniques time and time again even though it was obvious that I wasn’t seeing a return on my investment.

Some forms of insanity I have participated in:

• Paying for expensive “prints” of my work, hoping I could sell them at a lower price point---even though I had no mailing list or existing collector base to even try to market them to.

• Spending hundreds of dollars applying to and shipping artworks to random, poorly publicized and poorly attended juried exhibitions or competitions just because I was panicky about not having enough lines on my resume.  

• Investing an enormous amount of money in framing a body of work, even though I had done ZERO marketing and had no exhibitions lined up for said body of work.

• Spending time in Linked-In groups complaining and moaning about how my art sales sucked, when I should have been out at art openings meeting new people, or taking workshops to get better at my craft.

• Blindly sending “gallery packets” year after year to gallery directors that I had never met or to galleries I’d never even visited.

• Paying good money for software to send out incredibly boring and poorly designed e-mail newsletters.

All of these things involved a considerable amount of time, money, and emotional energy, yet even though I knew these things weren’t getting me anywhere I still continued to do them---for years! After all---I had become quite good at them.  (Especially the complaining and moaning part.)

Are you currently "insane"?

Have you ever suffered from “insanity”?

What bad habits are you ready to get rid of in the upcoming year?

What will you do differently in your Art business in 2012?

I'm looking forward to reading your replies in comments.

BIG Love,

-Kesha★


If you found this blog post interesting, hit the re-tweet button and then click here to get on the ARTFIX Invite List. You'll thank me later. Trust me.

Plus, if you do this, there is a 99.99% chance that you are awesome.
...But you already know that.

What Activities in Your Life Deserve to be Given the CHOP?

One of the questions I get asked most often is “You have so many things going on! How do you manage to get everything done?”

The answer:  I don’t.

The truth is that I have no magic recipe for packing more hours into the day. My to-do list often over flows onto 2 or even 3 pages, I don’t have a full or even part-time assistant to help me get things done, and I have just as many work and family obligations as the next gal.

The only reason that I’m able to be so productive, work on so many fun projects, and take all of my exciting, last minute weekend getaways is because I have learned to say “No!” 

Every errand, so-called obligation, or activity that has no significantly positive, long-term impact on my life has been banished.  I simply give them the “CHOP”.

 “I’m having a boring dinner party Friday, can you come?”  Thanks! But Nope.

“Hey, we’re gonna see the new Justin Timberlake movie. Wanna come?”  Nope.

“Can you donate an artwork to our annual fundraiser….?”  Uhm, Hell No.

Chop, Chop, and CHOP!

I don’t have spare time.  All of my time is accounted for and filled with high-value and high-reward experiences that truly increase the quality of my life. 

---Note here that I said life, not art career.  

Learning to say “no” easily and often, will not only allow you to make advances in your art career, but will ultimately improve the over-all quality of your life.

My question to you:

What can you start saying “No” to TODAY?

What do you have a hard time saying "No" to?

What everyday activities in your life deserve to be given the CHOP?

What low-value activity can you completely eliminate from your schedule until you’ve reached some of your more rewarding, meaningful goals?

Leave your thoughts in the comments section.

BIG Love,

-Kesha★


If you found this blog post interesting, hit the re-tweet button and then click here to get on the ARTFIX Invite List. You'll thank me later. Trust me.

Plus, if you do this, there is a 99.99% chance that you are awesome.
...But you already know that.

Why Don't Artists Make Any Money?

One of the most powerful parts of being in New York City for the past two months was the sheer amount of time I had to actually spend talking with artists every day.   

Over the course of six weeks I had the chance to talk with painters, photographers, sculptors, video and performance artists, designers, web designers, jewelry designers, and even a few people working in the fashion industry.

I’ll be honest with you here.  I left each and every one of those conversations very, very, very ALARMED!

We as Artists are in BAD shape.

Some of the things I’ve been hearing a lot of lately:

“I just don’t have enough time.”

“I’m totally overwhelmed by all this marketing stuff.”

“I don’t get the whole social media thing.”

“I hate networking!”

It seems that many of us know what we need to do, have most of the information we need, and for sure, we have the ideas and the creativity, but some THING is in the way of us putting all those puzzle pieces together.

So let’s get down to brass tacks here, art people:

#1  What fears, problems, obstacles are holding you back from reaching your goals?

#2  What do you need to get over those hurdles?

#3 What pieces of the puzzle are you missing?

Leave your thoughts in comments.

Let’s get to work!

BIG Love,

-Kesha★


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Plus, if you do this, there is a 99.99% chance that you are awesome.

...But you already know that.

Thank You for Making Us Rock Stars!

"Honey, I'm home!"

Yep.  I'm finally back in France, back in my studio, and back to battling a crippling case of jet-lag.  On October 20^th, Baang and Burne moved out of it's temporary gallery space in Chelsea, marking the final day of our EPIC endeavor, 6×6, logging in a total of 16 events in 6 weeks.

6×6 was an incredible experience:

To see the realization of a curatorial vision.

To have the honor of presenting 12 incredible artists’ work, some for the first time in NYC.

To hear the overwhelming positive responses to this new model of an art gallery.

To sell incredible art to enthusiastic collectors who will cherish it and live with it.

At the end of this 6 weeks, we were exhausted…. but we also felt like total Rock Stars.

And for that, we want to say thank you.

Thank you to all of our dedicated interns: Ariel, Panida, Randy, Steve, Kate, Sophia, Aulden, Erin, Ashton, Raul, Julianna, and Sara.

Thank you for every errand, every spackled and re-painted  hole  in the walls, every glass of wine poured, every piece of artwork unpacked and repacked, every dinner served and more. Thank you. 6×6 would not have happened without you guys and it is as much your achievement as it is ours.

Thank you to the Baang and Burne roster of artists:  Ed Smith, Kris Graves, Meyer Uranovvsky, Michael Kirchoff, Cara Lynn Kleid, Jacqueline Norheim, Readymade777, Karen Rudd, Toss Squires, Stacia Yeapanis, and Jane Zweibel.  Your work is so amazing that it makes our jobs easier.

Thank you to our darling friend Riegan Sage for all the delicious food she catered for our events, and for being the voice of sanity and a constant cheerleader.

Thank you to all our sponsors and partners for supporting us and helping us change the status quo!

Thank you to all of our friends who came out week after week to support the shows, the work, and our artists, and for spreading the word.

And last, but certainly not least, thank you to all of our Kickstarter backers:
Colin, Joke Aerts, Jane Zweibel, RobAtoms,Mia Cubrilo, Tom Hlas, Martha Wade, Jay Martin, Jennifer Hwa, Stephanie Lee Jackman, Christine Pensa, Kate Hers, Laura Pauline Willis, Demetri Broxton, Stephanie Rich, Wendy Dematteis, Tom Sherlock, Geri Montano, Nicole J. Butler, Lara, Natalya Aikens, Helen Klebesadel, Aaron Taylor, Sharon Crumley, David Greg Harth, Joan Sherlock, Astroduc, Daniel Sroka, Suzanne Jansson, Saron can Diemen, Kasalina Maliamu Nabakooza, Alison Harvey, Meg Leary, Anna Creadick, Carrie Crow, Demolition Man, Sir Aaron Grunwald, Bonnie Clark, Danielle Scruggs, Michael Werner, Robin Ann Walker, Desiree Adaway, Heather Lavender, Donna Kitsos, Janice Marston, Paige Wery, Ricky & Gaylynne Roach, Kortney Ryan Ziegler, Pat & ed Hamilton, Dave Conrey, Lana Kole, Heidi, Melanie DewBerry-Jones, Doug, Dan Shepherd, Mindful Mimi. Noelle Gilbert, Carolyn Hampton, Jamie Johnson, Michael Kunze, Nancy Baron, Alma Soto, Kimberly Abbott, SexyFilmFestParis, Laurie McCormick, Lola Akinmade, Lorraine Spencer, Elinros Henriksdotter, Tom M Johnson, Kimberlee Rocco, Damani K. Anderson, Callahan McDonough, MuemaPhoto, Michelle Pier, Manjari Sharma, Jenn, Carl, RabbiBen, Mark Berndt, Jim McHugh, Bdamico, Sacha Sacket, Lis Zadravec, Raymond Difley, Sharon Ross, Will Owens, Josh Haycraft, Antoinette L. Poindexter, April, Mark Robert Halper, Hank Willis Thomas, Carol Steinberg, Michael Lukas, Eunice, Adrienne Phelps-Coco, Jenna Crowder, Ms. Arliss Prass, Gwendolyn Kelly, Marion Coleman, INTERTWYNED, Angela Rockett, Margaret Waage, Brubes 1981, Stacey Pruim, Ingrid Pohl, Erin Hozack, Shari Jamieson, Linda Stranger, Tricia McLaughlin, Harold Smith Artist, Jocelyn, Susan, Jessica, Tracey Chan, Cynthia, Carol Welch, Krist Terrell, Elissa Hogan, June Edmonds, Brittanie Anderson, RuTemple, Sandie Sing, Gayle Allor Dauverd, Emily Rose, T Thorn Coyle, Brittany Svoboda, Tony Rella, Brian Nelson, Lance Ekum, Alisha K. Ard, Alexis Marnel, Barbara J Hart, Mary Gallagher Stout, NAT+NEO, Beth Hicks, Kevin Gong, Karla Mitchell, Anna Lise, Dawoud Bey, Marli Hagen, Julie, LaKesha ChoklateChild Brown, Amelia Gagne, Jkiro, Tye Green, Ashley West Leonard, Enrique Ahumada, Luis Galdamez, Aline Smithson, Steven Khan, Catherine Gwynn, Adrian Davis, Pilar Law, Garrett, Cara Lynn Kleid, Joe Kleid, Angela Bacon-Kidwell, Johanna Fateman, Chris Haston, Ann George, Heidi Richjardson Evans, Shaun SureThing, Erin Sears, Adrianne George, Allison Kirkpatrick, Lee meade, Adam Larkey, Vanessa Turner, Janella Dowell, Peter Kayafas, Jandams, Christina Mazurowski, Elisabeth Mercante, Kaz Patwa, Corrie Greening, Mike Briercliffe, Trudi, John Micheal Kearney, Ariel Murakhovsky, Wayne Stratz, Wendy Schneider, Mike Sahlman, Bashie Waggoner, Katarina Wong, Sarah Fajardo, Raymond Le Blanc, Thomas C Williams, Daniel Karp, Jessica Atcheson, Sergia Fernandez, Terry Girard, Rodney Washington, Kris Graves, Laurie Minsky, Laurie Shock, Roza Futernik, Christiane, Sharvette Mitchell, Katherine Piazza, Cathy Read, Clarence Williams, Nancy MacLeod, Keiko Hamaguchi, Jonas Yip, Glen Chandler, Mike, S. Rhett, Patricio Robayo, Joshua Yaffa.

Thank you for believing in our vision.

Charlie and I both feel like Rock Stars today because of ALL of you.

Thank you.

BIG Love,

-Kesha★

Next Stop: Washington DC!

I’m on the move!

Next stop Morton Fine Art in Washington D.C. where I will be showing the (Re)callingand (Re)telling series along with “The Story” series.  If you missed my 6x6 exhibition, “Talking to Myself", this is a great chance to see both bodies of work in one place.  Also, it’s my last Art Tour stop of 2011 before I jump continent and head back to France just in time for the Paris Photo Art Fair.

As part of the FOTOWEEK DC 2011 FESTIVAL you are cordially invited to the opening reception for

(Re)calling and (Re)telling

An exhibition of work by artist Kesha Bruce.

November 5–November 12, 2011.

Artist Talk and Opening Reception:
Saturday November 5th, 2011.
2 - 5 PM.

THAT THEY MIGHT BE LOVELY, 2008.  Archival Pigment Print.
(20  x 27  inches.)  Edition of 15. $350 Click here for 2011 price list.

 

(Re)calling and (Re)telling uses maps, drawings, found documents, and family photographs to creative new, hybrid narratives that address aspects of African-American history and experience through memory and storytelling.

Morton Fine Art
1781 Florida Avenue Northwest
Washington, DC 20009-2647
(202) 628-2787
http://www.mortonfineart.com

I can't wait to meet all my Washington D.C. peeps!  See ya there!

BIG Love,

-Kesha★


If you found this blog post interesting, hit the re-tweet button and then click here to get on the ARTFIX Invite List. You'll thank me later. Trust me.

Plus, if you do this, there is a 99.99% chance that you are awesome.
...But you already know that.

6x6 Round #5: It's Getting L O U D In Here!

To say the least, the past two weeks have been a high intensity whirl-wind of art and creative energy.  With over 300 people passing through the gallery---It's gettin' loud in here!

A few choice picks from "Violently Happy":

 

We can hardly believe it, but the final 6x6 exhibition opens Thursday:

Of Faith, Power, and Glory.

New work by Michael Kirchoff and Meyer Uranovsky

October 13–18, 2011.

Opening Reception October 13, from 6-8PM
 

Baang and Burne Contemporary Art
547 W 27th Street suite 309 (3rd floor)
Btwn 10th & 11th Ave.
New York, NY.
 

If you haven't made it out to one of the openings, this is your last chance to be part of something that is truly amazing.

Power to the Art People.

Come join us.

BIG Love,

-Kesha★


If you found this blog post interesting, hit the re-tweet button and then click here to get on the ARTFIX Invite List. You'll thank me later. Trust me.

Plus, if you do this, there is a 99.99% chance that you are awesome.
...But you already know that.

6×6 Round #4: Please Stand By – artists Stacia Yeapanis and Readymade777

A few opening night photos from Please Standy By: new work by Stacia Yeapanis and Readymade777.

Click here to see the full Flickr photo set.

 
Couldn’t make it to last week’s opening?  No Problem!  Come to the next one:

Violently Happy: New work by Jacqueline Norheim and Cara Lynn Kleid.
October  6 -12, 2011

Opening Reception: Thursday October 6th,  from 6-8 PM.

Baang and Burne Contemporary Art
547 W 27th Street suite 309 (3rd floor)
Btwn 10th & 11th Ave.
New York City

See ya there!

BIG Love,

-Kesha★


If you found this blog post interesting, hit the re-tweet button and then click here to get on the ARTFIX Invite List. You'll thank me later. Trust me.

Plus, if you do this, there is a 99.99% chance that you are awesome.
...But you already know that.