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Index: 'Letters From the Editor'

LETTERS FROM THE EDITOR

by Gordy Grundy
Editor-in-Chief

Friday, April 21, 2023


CALL ME CUSTER

 

I had been drafting a letter to you.

"Over the last 1,539 days, it has been my great pleasure to educate and entertain you with Art Report Today. I hope we have inspired you to pick up a pencil, a brush or a lump of clay to create something. Simply, our agenda is to share the many joys that artists and collectors experience. And unlike the arts media establishment, we want to engage the other 99 Percent of the population into our world..."

As a gentleman, I was polite and gracious with my words. In truth, most of these long days have been arduous. 24/7. No break or vacation unless I took a hangover nap. Despite the demanding workload, I had to squeeze in odd jobs for rent, ramen and receipts. The internet looks free, but it ain't.

It was a goodbye letter. Without the clever prose and fancy vocabulary, I was saying, "My bags are packed. I'm ready ready to go. The frustration is killing me."

Every artist quickly learns that their life and efforts are ignored, underappreciated and trivialized. Par for the course. This is the air we breathe.

Every good painter also knows when to put down the brush; the piece is finished. I am quite proud of Art Report Today. I would not change a thing, from design to content. As a concerned parent, I have examined the baby from every single angle. Obsessively and hourly. Forward and back. I could improve no more.

All artists live in a bubble. Occasionally the vacuum is pierced with a word from the outside. Over the last 1,539 days, a few folks have thrown a brick at my head with a note attached that might read, 'Love it!', 'You're an idiot' or 'Write about my show.' We artists appreciate attention.

The Uber driver was outside honking. My phone rang. I dropped the backpack that held my earthly belongings and answered. It was my sister Tunisia who had married well. She had kindly gifted me with her old iPhone that I held in my hand, pressed to my ear. I told her I was heading for the airport.

She shrieked, piercing her chardonnay slur. "Don't do it! In this monstrous, ugly world we are living in right now, that damn site and newsletter are the only thing that is happy, bright and beautiful. I need it." She needs it?

My ass hit the floor. Suprisingly, my mad, frivolous sister had said something genuine. I have never heard anything so adamant and brutally honest from her. She was actually intelligible.

I had to pay attention. I knew she was right. Every morning, I look at the headlines and I'm assaulted by a new unconceivable horror. My coffee flies into the air, and I howl. The noose around the neck of economics, humanity and reason keeps getting tighter.

If Art Report Today can have an affect upon Tunisia, the platform and the message might be resonating with rational folk.

I unpacked my bags. I flipped open both lap tops and connected to the wifi.

You can't say it out loud without looking like a drooling idiot, but my mind was reeling with all the tropes. In my heart and soul, I really, truly, believe that the arts are the sweet icing on the gritty pound cake of life.

I leapt onto my donkey for another charge and a last stand.

We're not done yet. Call me Custer.

 

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GORDY GRUNDY is a visual artist, arts columnist and Editor-in-Chief of the international Art Report Today .com

 

 

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Image Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

 

 

 

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Gordy Grundy