Rant

I am really tired of people telling me I NEED to be on Instagram. Or Snapchat. Or whatever app or device might come next to turn some 20-something into a billionaire.

The tools you see above are my standbys. It's not as though I systematically resist all technology. When people around me suggest something I usually try it, and, if it suits me, I adopt it. I was introduced to Twitter a year or so ago, and I loved it. It gives me all the visual feast I crave and exposes me to things I've never seen. When someone tells me on Twitter that they just posted something on Instagram it annoys me. I'd like to see their photo, but I don't want to take the time to hit the link and then return to Twitter. So, I usually ignore those posts,

And I don't want to "do" Instagram because I don't want to get a smartphone and be part of that commercial ratrace or to pretend to be listening to the live person next to me while texting something that doesn't really need to be said to someone I don't really know all that well. I refuse to buy into the obsoletism to which the marketing community has seemed to have made us addicted. People waiting in line for the next series of I-Phone and all that.....

Greetings from Nagoya

Here I am on opening day with the Artistic Director of the Aichi Triennale, Chihiro Minato. The Map installation was beautiful, and the opening turnout was great.

Today is my last full day in Japan. This has been an enlightening and visually stimulating trip for me. I am very greatful to the Triennale staff who have been so attentive to our every need. Yoshiko Nawa, especially, has had the patience of a saint, and we thank her deeply.

It's sad to feel this saga coming to a close, but I sense that fragments of this trip will live on in the Map and that I will be back one day.

Aichi Triennale less than a week away!

The Aichi Triennale in Nagoya, Japan opens on August 11 and runs through October 22. The wall installation of Jerry's Map was completed by the professional installers yesterday. Today they expect to finish the floor portion. For details see aichitriennale.jp.

I will be on hand on the 11th to answer questions and on the 12th to sign posters, prints and postcards.

I hope to see you there!

Jerry's Map at the Aichi Triennale

If you've been following the blog and the twitter feed you might be aware that Jerry's Map will be exhibited soon in Nagoya, Japan as a part of the Aichi Triennele. The exhibition will be open to the public on August 11, 2016.

As an added treat, the map will be displayed on the cover of the offical guidebook! If you'd like to pick up a copy and you're in the area, the official guide book publication commemoration event will be in Daikanyama, Tokyo on July 16, 2016.

For more information about the Triennale you can visit their website at http://aichitriennale.jp/

Hope to see you there!

Like Kickstarter!

Think of my listings on Ebay as a sort of home-made Kickstarter campaign. The print shown above, for example, is currently listed on Ebay at $13.61. That's like a gift for a donation of less than $20. There are original panels, too, often for under $100. And, for a $500 contribution, you can get an all-original first generation Map panel. 

Making this Map and showing it costs money, and we rely on you to help defray those costs.

Thanks for your help!

Outsider/Insider

The term "outsider art" is a little worn out. Even the insiders acknowledge this. But the distinctions are still made- mostly in Manhattan and Basel galleries and auction rooms. The insiders are those whose work patrons are willing to bet their wallets on to increase in value over time. "Naive" seems be an appropriate way of describing many outsiders. But then it could be applied to some of the insidest artists, too. Look at many of David Hockney's paintings. Maybe they only look naive to an outsider, and an insider could explain their sophistication. For me the terms "accidental" and "intentional" have broader application. Certainly much of what is in the American Folkart Museum or the Museum of Everything was not intended by its maker to be fine art. And certainly most of what is created by people with MFAs or who are exhibited in major museums or galleries is intended to be labeled "art."

Inside or outside, I am happy just to be making my Map. I hope that viewers get some pleasure from it, too.

Invite me!

The show coming up later this year in Japan will be a big one. The Map installation there will be the biggest one since the Palais de Tokyo in Paris last year. The display above, from ArtPrize 1 in Grand Rapids in 2009, was small in comparison. The Aichi Triennale in Nagoya opens to the public on August 11 and closes on October 22.

After that I will be looking for a new host for my project. Know any curators? Contemporary museums with high walls (25 feet, at least)? Or big open floor spaces which can be viewed from above?

I really have my sights set on that five-story high North wall of the atrium at MOMA in New York, but they haven't invited me yet.

On the more down-to-earth end of my fantasies would be a high school gym in some small town in the Plains. With a little help from the students we could mount the entire Map in about three days. And it could be de-installed in time for Saturday's game. Just a thought....

Meantime go buy something on Ebay. I don't need it to pay the rent, but it helps defray the not insignificant cost of creating this thing. And it's a cheap way for you to start your art collection. Imagine your grandkids taking a panel to Antiques Road Show forty years from now!

Thanks!