The BB Dismisses His Client

Modest Debauchery

The Bouncy Banker is Back (to his old tricks)

The BB is back!

Letter to the Bank #61

Dear Bank Manager (in the age of Twitter BM will do),

I don’t know what to say to you any more. It is all about money isn’t it? Is it good that Libya is collapsing? Is the West sorry to be losing an evil ally or happy to see the people of Libya breaking their bonds and reaching out for this elusive quality that we call Democracy? All is ambivalence. In the years to come we will no doubt hear of feckless attempts by agents on all sides to effect outcomes for better or worse. One can only hope their attempts to do so come to nought and all that occurs is the result of people taking control of their own lives and learning to hear each other and build institutions that work for the common good. I suspect banks the world over want only stability at whatever the cost to people on the ground. They stand forever neutral to the damage done to individuals and families and communities. All that ever matters is the bottom line. Unless you can see the human face of your actions, the lost home, the unfed, the uneducated, the unclothed, the struggles faced by the individual who once upon a time would sit across from you sharing his or her dreams for a better life and would look to you for advice we are all lost. Even if we loathe it this is a planet founded or foundering, leaking lifeboats of cash. Not knowing what else to do I join the desperate, stampede once in a while ducking into a doorway where I’ve seen a shortcut to reward. Briefly afloat on an all too temporary cash infusion I reward myself with a moment of contemplation, a luxury I use to make a stab at Art. A small window is leapt through and the result is a small artwork fit in to a respite from anxiety. Surely life is more than wealth accumulation? This brings us neatly back to my contention that Art is worth more than Money, my mantra. Miserable in their wealth where do the rich turn but to culture, culture being growth of a meaningful sort.

Yours sincerely,

Kristian Witherkay, muckraker.*

* My favorite current technique is to take mounds of paint and scrape and drag them across surfaces until the result satisfies on a deep and elemental level.

From Starving Artist to Starving Artist

From Starving Artist to “Starving Artist”: DIY Arts in Williamsburg

Feb 25, 2009 by Khristina Narizhnaya Nowadays bohemians from all over the world flock to Williamsburg hoping to find inspiration, but it takes more than creativity to stay afloat in this hip locale. The neighborhood’s exorbitant rents require these free spirits to have some serious bank before even considering the move.
The situation was not always so...  For more click on link for full article from the Greenpoint Gazette

Starving Artists Day

Starving Artists Day, Whim Plantation, St. Croix

Starving Artists Day, held twice each year in March and November, is one of the Landmarks Society’s most anticipated fundraising events of the year, showcasing over 70 Caribbean artists, jewelers, craftspeople and food vendors. The Starving Artists Day is a great way to spend a Sunday with the family.  Locals and visitors alike will find locally-made and original crafts, jewelry, fine art, ceramics, mahogany works, Mocko Jumbie sculptures, madras crafts, photography, fabrics, silks, plants, books, leather goods, candles, perfume oils, and lotions. Food and drink booths will feature local dishes such as fresh roast pig (lechon), patés, johnny cakes, fritters and fried fish in addition to treats and drinks like cakes, tarts, benye, breads, fraco, smoothies, liquors and juices. Cash bar is available all day.

Why Are Artists Poor?

The author of this book is both an economist and a painter/photographer, and thus highly qualified to write on this subject. His main argument is that art is quasi-sacred, and for that reason both its practitioners and its consumers are loath to think that it is "about" commerce or commodity exchanges. Most money that flows to the arts does so in the form of gifts (not just grants and donations, but family support and even individual artists subsidizing their own art with funds from a day job). Even outright sales are disguised to resemble gifts. The only learned profession with lower incomes than the arts is the clergy, who operate on similar lines, for similar reasons. Artists who make a lot of money become suspect in the eyes of peers and critics...  For more read Andrew Stiller's review on Amazon. Have not read it but might.

Poor Artists

Art from junk by British artists Sue Webster and Tim Noble

The Coming Collapse of the Middle Class