Stupid.

Scott Wayne Indiana responds:

mr. bowie,

thanks for posting the coloring book on the merc blog -

just a quick note in response to your money issue:

if i gave a free one to every artist in the book, i'd be giving them all away!

i paid quite a bit to get it made, and i am not in much of a position to give money away, at all.

i thought 10 bucks for an art piece was/is pretty cheap.

the fact that i based 1/150th of the art on your art i was hoping you'd appreciate and be happy to be a part of. as you are well aware, art is appropriated all the time. it's a common practice. one aspect of this piece is that i have cited every artist by name, and not just stolen anyone's art!

i'll tell you what chas, i'll give you a book for free.

Um, I think this already exists. http://www.psilodesign.com/funbook.html

An art piece? I thought it was a coloring book. $20 is kind of steep for a coloring book. And asking the people who are portrayed in it for $10 is just bad etiquette. Ideally, each should be offered one or more free of charge. That's kind of the standard for these type of things. Your subjects shouldn't be expected to cover your ass if they didn't commission you to do the thing in the first place.

so, if i'm not in that book, does that mean i'm not a portland artist?

if so, i'm glad i'm international.

with my private email to chas, i didn't expect or plan to be a part of this discussion.

a couple of responses: joe, i've rarely been accused of having proper etiquette and i doubt that will change anytime soon. on the other hand, i find it interesting that you criticise one's etiquette after posting "stupid" as a comment on a blog. miguel, if i could have included another 100 people or more, i would have. i obviously had to draw the line somewhere.

thanks again for posting the info. i do hope people enjoy the book and email pics to me. and again, i wish i was in a postion to give one free to all the people who are in it.

-swi

"...draw the line.."

ha.

i liked the braille graffiti.

i am getting tired of second rate artists who resort to social climbing under the guise of making "projects" like this, as well as those who write weblogs from the perspective of the "artist, but more or less just name drop lots of people to try and get ahead since thir art on its own never will.

great minds thinks alike. I'm excited to see the final product as the portland "fun book" wasn't quite what i anticipated.

however, "nearly every artist in town?"

I'm an artist now.

Miranda July moved to L.A. about 6 years ago. James Lavadour lives in Pendleton.
I would not refer to either as a Portland artist.

Ooh! Artists are so spicy!

In some way, I suspect that this project intends to appeal to the titanic egos of many of the people on his list - who not only live for seeing their names in print, but who delight in any reflections of their own image, coloring book or otherwise. Charging the 'artists' 10 bucks a pop so they can prop the book up next to their framed newspaper clippings and self-portraits is smart business. Its about time somebody profited from the rampant arts elitism in this town. So to you SWI, well played.

Ok, I'm not buying it. You convinced me.

Paul Middendorf...?

Tool: I see you are familiar with the narcissism of which I speak. However, rather than increase the 'google-ability' of those cut from that tacky cloth, let's instead give credit to those who 'made the list' (and to many others who didn't) because they deserve to be adored. Those who make and facilitate tender, moving and sincere work for its own sake and from the heart not the ego.

tacky, yes. but not everyone else on that list is tacky enough to write their own wikipedia entry.

Well, there are opportunists everywhere in our little arts scene - just that some are far more stealthy than others and careful not to leave such glaring public tracks (he said while blogging anonymously). I suppose the tie-in to this thread is that it's a fine line between legitimate self-promotion (which we all must do to some extent to succeed) and the sort which falsely claim that community and collaboration are their greatest desire (when in truth they only take advantage). Those are the charismatic charlatans of this business - fortunately some are easy to spot. They are a part of every business and they come with the territory. Their days are numbered.

Mr. Indiana is making no false claims here - he's not framing this project as a collaborative effort and he's not using any of the buzzwords that I'm frankly sick and tired of. He wants to sell an interesting and light-hearted idea. He has consistently provided Portland with that type of project and he should be acknowledged for that.

The coloring book may or may not hit the mark, however, because it seems to be such a specific target audience: those who are listed and serve their own egos - or the sycophants who want to talk to them about it. Either way, I know Scott well and he is a sincere person - I wish him success.

If you weren't included in this list, so what. He wanted to make a coloring book, not an encyclopedia. I'm sure he meant no offense. And not everyone on this list is full of arrogance - as I said, there are several people who have earned the name recognition.

Moral of the story: Any time you make a list of 'notable personalities', you run the risk of being misunderstood and offending. But at least it's great blog fodder.

first: tool, you are one.

third: reading this thread is nothing less than catching a glimpse, through some rusty cyber-door, of a clutch of albino, rickets-ridden, bucktoothed, weak-chinned offspring of an unholy, incestuous marriage between narrow minds and outsized ambitions.

a word from the realer side of reality: keep up the good work, swi

ps...I left "second" out, it was too good to print.

Ian: it sounds like tool hit a nerve! Either that or you saw an opportunity to get your name out there and a link to your blog. Your post and your blog are arrogant and pretentious. Thanks for gracing us albino inbreds with your presence and giving us so many witty hyphenated words in one sentence. At least we agree that we like what swi is doing. so why do you have to interject yourself and your blog into something that isn't about you? Oh, I forgot.. they were just talking about your kind earlier. No wonder you were so offended.

Holy Shit! I met this Ian guy in Chile like 5 years ago! I don't have anything to contribute but just wanted to say HOLY SHIT! this guy Ian's been walking for like 5 years!

tacos are ready, so gotta go.

I am pissed. Can't SWI even alphabatize things? Since when did AR come before AB? HUH? Stupid artists.

there are a lot of stand out artists on that list. there is also a handfull of wankers who happen to be swi's friends, or people he wants to impress. its fine, its just a coloring book, a better title would be,

" A COLORING BOOK OF PEOPLE SWI LIKES TO ASSOCIATE HIMSELF WITH"

So I was planning on commenting before I saw my name with a question mark. Regardless, the book is a playful project. I know Scott and I know that he hasn't spent much time with many of the people he listed. However, if you see the ghost of Rothko be sure to invite him to one of our openings. I didn't know you knew him? On another note. Get the F@*k over it. I mean really. The coloring book isn't in great order the pages are upside down and some of the images are faded. That is great. Its an imperfect book. Thats the beauty of art. The people in the book all work really hard at what they do. They aren't glorified in the book. In fact some of the people in the book look terrible. I haven't ever been in the Portland Fun Book. Am I pissed...No. Should you be pissed NO. Its just a fun project. How about when Scott made 20 or so statues of Brad Adkin. Were any of you upset he didn't make one of you?

Come on folks its a funny book project. Give the guy some credit for working so damn hard on all of his projects. Don't sell your art community short.

how come nobody calls him "bradkins"?

"Don't sell your art community short." right....

Thanks Paul.
And lets remember people this coloring book probably won't get anyone laid, and if if does... Fucking sweet! I'll make one!

I was more than happy to pay ten dollars to support Scott and this project.

This is hilarious reading! What I'm getting a kick out of is that this Paul character doesn't even realize that he was the one being harshly criticized much more than Scott and basically being called an egomaniac and an opportunist by Echo and Tool. And then he comes into the discussion (probably with coloring book in hand and bookmarked at the page with his picture) right on cue and proves their point! This is rich! And dude, being in a coloring book may not get you laid but creating your own Wikipedia page on yourself just might. I can't tell who is kissing ass and who is kicking it in this scene anymore. Hilarious!

I would kiss his ass.

I did kiss his ass - it tasted like Scott Wayne Indiana.

"right on cue and proves their point!"

i know! he does not defend him self about wether or not he wrote that wiki page him self. very rich. and silly. also the gallery homeland wiki page is even more pathetic. it reminds me of the FEMA news story that aired today on opb. there was an official FEMA press conference and all these people were asking the FEMA director candy coated questions, and it turns out all of the people asking questions were FEMA employees!