One of the last movies I watched was Julia and Julia. My husband felt mildly tortured as I watched such a chick flick. As we watched it, it felt so sappy and unrealistic that we both were really surprised when we found out it was a true story. The woman blogged about cooking every recipe in one of Julia Child's most famous recipe books. It had 500 pages in it and she cooked at least one recipe a day. People actually noticed her blog, she got fans, got work as a writer and even had this movie made. I was a little in shock. I wonder how many people have gotten any fame from their blog and I wonder how many people actually make a living off their blog.
I don't think anyone would be interested in reading my blog aside from my professor. I decided to google visual culture blog and the first one that came up is actually posting some really cool things - http://www.oberholtzer-creative.com/visualculture/ - so I'm stealing some of the images for this post. I loved the gory zombie stationary, the organic cheat sheets (would love to keep those in my wallet!) and the drum umbrella, which is a new korean invention. The blog has been created by a design firm, which would explain why the blog is so design focused.
A few weeks ago a friend of mine invited me to a blog party and I actually got to meet a few people who have started blogs that are successful and have followers. The blog party was for two blogs... www.hyperallergic.com/and www.artfagcity.com - the woman who does artfagcity was a friend of my friend and she was sharing the workspace with hyperallergic and the party marked their 6th month anniversary in their office space. (http://hyperallergic.com/5603/launch-party-photos/). They were having video screenings, so I thought I'd be able to count it as an observation for class. However, there wasn't much that inspired a blog except for the conversation.
So, since these are art blogs, there were artists at the party. Although I love fine art, as I mentioned in a previous blog, I kind of agree with Lukova's point of view on the contemporary fine art world. Fine art is often linked to pretension and an over-privileged crowd. I enjoyed the party, my friend's company and her friends as well, but this party fit this idea. At one point in the night, the conversation led to where people were from and there was a self-proclaimed conclusion that the party was filled with over-privileged white kids. It makes sense. Who else can afford a lifestyle like the ones many of these people lead.
When we first got there, my friend found a friend and they started talking. This left me with the friend of a friend and we did not start talking. Another guy came over and his first question to me was "Are you and artist?" My pretension radar went off and I could not help but to answer, "What do you mean by artist? People who make their living off of art can say they are an artist but after then aren't we all artists and aren't children artists?" He just looked at me, so I said, "Are you an artist?" He said, "Yes" and walked away. The friend of a friend and I started talking.
I love art and I think it's great to be an artist, but this privileged, pretentious culture makes me feel punk. I just want to fight it. The only way I'd ever survive within it would be if I was so gifted and talented that I would surpass the bullshit and head right for the top. That life must be amazing. However, I will embrace it all and stay positive.
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