News Item: Does LACMA Art Play in Vegas? Curatorial relationship and plans remain uncertain; Click Here

17th Sept, 6pm, 'Still Life with Technology,' Zoë Camper, Artist Talk and Reception, CSN ART Space, 3200 E Cheyenne Ave, North Las Vegas, 89030

CouperRuss invites you to make an appointment to see MISE EN ABYME; Now on view through Saturday November 7, 2026; Featured artists: Audrey Barcio, Matthew Couper, Yasmin Dubrau, Rob McLeod, Krystal Ramirez, JK Russ, David Ryan, Dave Shull and an Unidentified Spanish artist.

THE ARTS: WHY DO WE?
by Gordy Grundy

It’s hard to care for something we don’t understand.

Today we speak of the Arts with selfies and emojis.
Before Covid, we spoke in the lingo of art issues and academics.
Before the invention of the MFA, our uneducated little minds were busy speaking in an organic, very human tongue, which I would like to learn more about.

I think it will help us today, to reintroduce the arts. In a whole new way. Like a rebrand.

Unable to throw money at it, the artist will gladly bear the burden and work our magic.

Navigating Our Course

How do we repair our great disconnect? Wrestle with this. Think back to your purest self. How do we introduce good folks to the sublime? How do we share that gut-punch of joy, awe, appreciation and a little grace? That sudden gasp when encountering an object of great personal beauty? What words do we use? How can we speak so that we are heard and understood?

By example, of course. Actions and words express our mindful humanity.

Choosing Our Voice

Today, we can see how art academia has overstepped their utility, like a cigarette butt.

We have always joked that Art is a Religion, but I’ve always, quietly, believed it. A purpose-minded life? That’s the arts. Striving for the sublime? Nothing more admirable or valiant.

How did we speak of the arts before academia? I need to read the letters of Georgia O’Keeffe. She tops a long list. Ditto the Bloomsbury gang and our historic collectives. The first MFA classes began in 1940, so anything before 1930 should be revelatory.

Summoning Our Spirits

No artist can ever speak for another. Yet we share many of the experiences that change our lives and the problems we must solve.

There is an Artist’s Odyssey. The sequence of such events are individual. It is a progression of discovery and self-knowledge, unlike any other.

One beautiful gesture, after another.

Everyday, we choose to create or destroy. I aspire to the beau geste. A clean conscience, with style.

This is how we begin again. Same instincts. Same generous actions. New vocabulary.

If we strip away the refinery of academia and commerce, the naked artist is nothing more than a simple soul, who really likes to make things.