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GORDY GRUNDY LETTERS FROM THE EDITOR See the Series: Index, Click Here by Gordy Grundy 8 October 2023 FEVERED DREAMS
It has become a daily occurrence. Every morning, I wake up wildly at 4:32 exactly, with very wide eyes and a gasp. The mattress on the smooth carpeting has somehow been tossed two feet ashore from its original berth. The sheets are wrapped around me like an anaconda ready to squeeze the life out of me. Yeow. It's been 66 days since my last confession. These 'Letters From the Editor' were designed to be a weekly laugh riot, an overview of the world and the bucket of mud that we stand in. Easier said than done. I've been so damnably busy.
Why start the day with news of our societal and political malaise? I choose the sunshine and joy of the arts! We're ready to board millions of passengers. Aggressively, we designed the sleek ship for the future with an engine room far bigger than I can fuel today. The kitty has become a hungry cat. I feel like Chaplin in Modern Times; as I try to adjust the gears with wrench in hand, I find the gears are readjusting me. I am just now learning how to use the new process effectively. The editorial demands are a full time job. All wheat, No chaff. I'm rowing as fast as I can. It's hell to be creative. Lots of 'begetting.' One beautiful notion begets an even more generous and opulent concept, which in turn – you get the idea. The castles in our minds are endless. As I keep marching forward, I cannot help but think of the architect. The spark of an idea, the sketches that bloom into engineered blueprints and that ugly seed of reality that inevitably must grow: one can design it, but can he build it? I have always been fascinated by Frank Lloyd Wright's 'The Illinois', a visionary mile high sky city. Every aspect of the streamlined project is full of challenge and wonder. In creation, there is a point where a physical work moves into the intangible. I call it the beau geste, a beautiful idea, an artistic gesture and nothing more. No painter has ever finished a canvas; there is always some tiny, insignificant detail that jibber-jabbers loudly. The trick, or rather the great skill, of an artist is knowing when to lay down the brush. Before an artist can drop the mic, there are a litany of challenges that must be addressed. Has every option been exercised? Every corner turned? Has one given it their blessed all? By any standard, a drop of blood or a tear must be shed. As a babe, my nickname was Go-Go. It wasn't because strangers were slipping hundies into my g-string. I was fast; my parents couldn't catch me. I was always on the go-go. And cursedly, I still am. My RPM revvs faster than most; the mind is a fevered dream. Editorially, I have to feed the monster and Art Report Today is always hungry. At this time, the new design demands more content than I can produce, for I have new hats that I must wear. The fraught schedule fights for a scooch more room. The lights overhead are flickering, the computer screen glows dim and the landlord yells "I don't give a damn about the sanctity of the fine arts, do your Past Due." Philistines. We are making ad sales calls. We are trying to grow the circle of advocates, without slapping the flesh, (a handshake) which is very hard to do from the middle of the Pacific. We are trying to introduce Art Report Today to new folks who are not as hip or aware as you, dear reader. We are looking for friends with greater connections than we humbly possess. And of course, there is the inevitable tech emergency which makes the heart race and the mind implode. And there are the rent-paying gigs to cultivate and successfully complete before the walls cave in. And if we might look outside, we see bright and beautiful sunlight. Yes, like all of you, I have too much to do. And, damnably, as I dig deeper and go-go further, I see more. And the concept, purpose and value of Art Report Today becomes clearer. The horizon ends at six miles; that's as far as you can see before the earth curves. Every artist is simpatico with a Columbus, a Magellan or a Copernicus. Like a fevered dream, they can see beyond the flat horizon.
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Image of the 'Illinois' courtesy of Wikidata
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In my last post, I detailed our brand new redesign. Then, and now, I am most proud of the simple, speedy structure. One can easily see how the arts + culture platform can be a vital daily portal, a go-to, with eighteen or more distinct magazines of interest. 
