REALITY TV SHOWS VS. REAL ART SHOWS

Real World Artists vs. TV Reality Shows

when one travels as much as we do to earn a living, one realizes rather rapidly that there is a very small limit of things one actually needs to live with.
It is so much easier to not have to deal with lawns needing mowing, mail needing to be dealt with, utility bills to be paid, livingrooms to be vacuumed, cats to be fed, and all the other things that apparently are necessary when one has a house.

But then, on arrival back at home, one realizes that there is some comfort in having a house that is attached to the ground, that does not involve a motor blowing out, tires going flat, or septic systems needing dumping (thank heavens for city sewer systems!).

It is a constant dilemma – the freedom and rugged living conditions of the open road in contrast to the solidness of being home for the kids, the drama, and the bills.

A nice balance of the two would be perfect, but alas, that is not my lot in life, at the moment.
So when we are home, we do try to make the most of it – much of the time, we are painting, printing, embellishing, shipping, creating, doing taxes, running the teenies around to their various events, catching up with loved ones, and trying to pack all the homeowner requirements into a few days – all at the same time.
It makes for quite a bit of a systematic maaahem mostly – life is too short to be bored, it would seem.

How do other people find the time to amuse themselves about the current reality show family – the Kardashians, The Duck Dynasty, The 19 Kids and Counting Family, and on and on?

My life contains enough drama for ten reality shows – so maybe someday, the tv producers will try to get a hold of me to show what a truly glamorous artist life really is about. I could show them the scene behind the art scene – you know, the one where the studio is not a pristine, funky, clearcut, halogen lighted, sparsely decorated in swedish minimalist furniture downtown loft, but a room in my house shared by kids’ craft projects, a stack of bills, tax papers, and receipts the size of Kilimanjaro, and about 30 paintings in various stages of completion, along with a disarray of dirty brushes, four pallettes with different color schemes, stray paint rags draped on various surfaces….

Or the version where we are loading the trailer and car late into the night, to get up earlier than the sun to get on the road for a two day drive to wherever the reviews say the best/largest/funkiest/most lucrative/best visited art festival/fair/show takes place that weekend. Where we set up in rain/wind/heat/cold to brave the crowds/lack of crowds/rain/wind/heat/cold to make sales/make no sales and then reverse that whole process to start it all over again the next weekend.

The real glamour of my artist life, though, quite real, quite honest: the people we meet on the way. The connections that run deeper than just a “How are ya doin’ today?” phrases we so easily toss out into the world.
The connections that remind us that each of us are as individual as our own lives dictate us to be.

Each one of us is our own story. It makes for a very interesting ready, if we only take the time to ready each person between the lines.
Every one of us – real life drama sitcoms.

And that is a show worth watching to me – it makes me like being an artist.

So to the tv producers looking for a new reality tv show idea: come spend some time with me, I will show you the art scene that has been obscured by gallery opening H’ors d’oeuvres, little black dresses, clinking champagne glasses, and art critic reviews of carp schmiered on notebook paper that has been lauded the next “Up and Coming Young Artist”. It has nothing to do with art, artistic ability, but mainly with marketing – much like our food choices have generally become a choice of which picture we like better on the cardboard box it is packaged in.

So to the tv producers looking for the next “Up and Coming TV Reality Show” – come hang out with us – the ones that wear torn jeans to just set up our gallery in a dusty place, to bring smiles to people that are walking around in shorts and tank tops clad in camouflage on a 95ºF day to see what real art and real artists are all about.
You might find a whole different world to show the world – one where a cocktail dress is made to wipe paint brushes on, and a champagne glass might very well work better as a water jar to wash out the vibrant colors that were just applied to a canvas painted over five times.

There, you will find people that genuinely make an impact on the real world – the world of reality shows that are not on TV. With actors that are not acting, but just doing what they do best: making the world a better place by making art for the real world.

You ARE a TV Reality Show Producer? Awesome. Contact me, and I will help you uncover the “behind the scenes scenes” that will change the canvas of what the art scene is about.