Yay! Dolls and a Show!

Tomorrow night is the second Square One art event entitled GO! at the Ritz in Tampa's historic Ybor city. Bar none, this is one of the most gratifying events in the area, for both artists and appreciators. As I set up my work today, I was once again astounded by the variety and potency of the talent present. The Tampa Bay Art Scene is truly fecund, so much so that it may burst it's boundaries at any moment, garnering the national recognition it richly deserves. Organizers Gary Randall and Okesene Tilo have managed to assemble a roster showcasing an incredibly inclusive and eclectic array of art, music, and fashion while affording all us creative types dignity and respect for what we do, nothing short of a miracle in today's world of bullshit art ass kissing and ostentatious exclusivity. Their youthful enthusiasm, networking savvy and generosity evokes a celebratory and harmonious energy that eclipses many other established events I've been a part of. All of this and none of the art sucks! Representatives from Tampa Bay's established art community such as, P$ynner, Robert Wegman, Treza Bettencourt and Carolina Cleere will be exhibiting side by side with art show virgins such as Malisha Dewalt, whose photo-realistic pencil drawings are absolutely dumbfounding in their accuracy and completely gripping in their subject matter and tone. This event promises to be a pure celebration of creative flow, free from the tedious political posturing and jaded snobbery that afflicts so much of the art world. What a very Caribbean way to roll...

As if this is not enough to lure you there tomorrow night, I've finally finished the "Series of Endless Desires" dolls I've been toiling over. Yes. One can toil over dolls. They are companion pieces to the series of paintings I'm working on bearing the same name.The series ponders the question " Are human desires truly endless?". I don't know the answer but I intend to paint each one until I find out. The dolls can be are seen below and can be purchased at queenofqueens.etsy.com. Click the pics to see the full frontal.

The devolution of intimacy.

Recently I had an encounter that made me question whether knowledge of someones personal finances is more intimate than that of the carnal variety. During the course of my discussion I was assured that indeed it was because with that knowledge comes the power to destroy someones life.
I am having a really difficult time wrapping my head around the notion that post-modern man will allow freer access to their punannies and prostates than to their pin numbers. "Yes darling, I trust you to navigate the deepest realms of my nether regions with multitudinous foreign objects. Additionally, I will allow you , at whim, to probe the darkest corners of my psyche, presenting you the knowledge of my worst fears and greatest hopes. All this I give to you but I shall never violate the sacred trust of my holy bank account, for it is easier for a camel to slip through a postmodern asshole than it is for a poor man to enter the Kingdom of Nordstrom's".
Now in fairness, I do get that a girl has to guard her identity lest some unsavory type try to destroy her credit. I get that in a world hyper-concerned with commodity our credit is the lynch pin upon which most of our assurance of worldly goods is hinged. What I cannot comprehend is how a system of commerce, so arbitrarily conceived and implemented, can so easily and thoroughly be imposed upon every single conscious being. I do not understand how readily we pull this fascist ideology to our breasts, elevating it as our holiest of holys, all in the name of that elusive comfort we seek in the spectre known as security.
I suppose I believed trust was earned and once so, unconditional. I just hate it when idealism raises it's ugly head like that.