RobArt Penguin

My sister told me that the art world has changed, that the focus is no longer on aesthetics (pretty). I listen to her because she is a trained artist with a college degree and taught art for many years. I’ve never been trained, but I’ve done thousands of pieces over 50+ years (there I go again–dating myself). I never considered getting training. Men in my family were supposed to do something practical like a trade or get an engineering degree. Nevertheless, creativity naturally sprung from me throughout my life. But because I was not part of the “art world,” I didn’t consider myself one or that I was any good at it. Of course, there was an art teacher in college who thought I was sandbagging his course for an easy “A” because I was more advanced than his other students. I guess I learned something doing it myself. In my thirties I found my way to a local art league that had their own gallery. It was full of local artists, few of which were formally trained or would qualify for membership in the “art world”, but produced very nice work–some of which sold. I’ve always been a fan of Marcel Duchamp’s urinal piece “Fountain” because it suggests to not take the question too seriously. The “art world” is actually small and the real world of artistic people is much bigger. I wonder if my wife would mind my painting flowers on the toilet.