I have been attending openings and receptions for three months now. I’ve written about what I have seen and what I thought was going on. Its been fun and I always get a boost of confidence when my number one fan (hi mom) tells me what I’m doing is good.
But I haven’t seen any good come of it. I have been encouraged to write for the local papers and mags, I’ve submitted samples to our regional arts publications and have attempted to join local blog-groups. Where am I at with all of this? In the same chair in front of the same damn computer. I have barely gotten three people to leave a comment!
I am tired of abandoning my family in order to trek around town looking at art. I love art, but my life is suffering because of it. I can’t focus at work and am constantly monitoring my blog stats. I stay up late and am exhausted the following day. I get stomache pains after submitting a less than glowing review. I don’t need this shit.
If you haven’t caught on yet, let me spell it out for you.
I quit.
That’s what I fuckin sees.
'Bout What I Sees 
Well, to me this is indeed a sad day. I think there is a great need for someone such as yourself to write about” what you sees” I think your honesty is refreshing and is not tainted by the “select” few. Over the past few months i have been encouraging people to read your site, maybe i should have been encouraging people to write more. I know how it feels to think that you stand alone in your opinion publicly, only to have others slap your back and say, ” I was thinking the same thing” privately.
I think it’s time for the rest of us to step up with our comments publicly. I hope that you don’t stop, this is a much needed voice in this community.
take note of this quote by Franz Kafka: Is not this life hard enough,- cold enough, – is not all the world beyond these four walls pitiless enough, why must i speak? i speak because my soul demands it!
I am not certain what your expectations were for your blog, but i and a number of people i know have enjoyed reading your impressions of exhibitions here in Austin. Frankly, your writing is sometimes a little rough around the edges in terms of its prose, but your frankness, and the sense of openess and honesty you approach your reviews with is refreshing. Your blog offers a respite from the overt self-indulgence of a particular local weekly and provides another much-needed perspective; a critical one. If Austin ever hopes to establish a more sophisticated visual art scene it needs people like you who are willing to say unequivocally, when things are bad.
I would urge you to not give up so quickly, things take awhile to catch on. My advice, for whatever it is worth, is to have some patience, write one review a week instead of trying to cover everything, spend more time on each review and clean up your prose. Write for yourself and if people catch on thats great but if they don’t i would not be too concerned about it, thats not your responsibility. Best of luck with whatever your decision is.
Well kid, after the slump I’ve been in the past few weeks, I’d wish you luck and ask you what took you so long to realize the futility of this whole art lifestyle. BUt I’m not one to be fooled so easily, so I’m sticking with the last tad of optimism remaining in my bones that this is, well, I hope it is, all just a joke?