Bourbon Decanter

Blue Coyote Supper Club Sanibel

2 weeks ago

Hey there my friends - Markus here.

I’ve long believed that the ultimate luxury for professional artists who make art for a living - is TIME. If you’re a weekend painter, then time is an easily affordable luxury, but if you’re a pro, then the often-debilitating effects time has on the size and complexity of any given painting you’re creating are necessary, sometimes even overriding, concerns. I have lived with those concerns, daily, for more than three decades now, and I’m proud of how I’ve dealt with the considerations the monetization of art bring with them. Those of you who know me well know that I think art is best if the driving force of it’s creation is the pure joy of being able to conjure it up. I have often said to young artists seeking my advice regarding making art their career, “Pretend no one will see what you’re making until a hundred years after you die, and whatever you’d paint if that were the case - PAINT IT - and then just hope there’s a marketplace for it. It’s the only way you’ll like the work if it DOESN’T sell, and if you DO sell it, you’ll feel like you rule the world.”

It has taken a long time for me to get where I’m at now, which is that rare place where a professional artist just lets the paintings they’re creating take as long as they need. It’s made the complexity of my newest works go up considerably, and it has also clarified my intentions toward history more than I believed possible. The pieces I’m making now are exactly, precisely, what I’d make if the first persons to view them would be your great-great-great grandchildren. They aren’t fashionable, they aren’t topical, they aren’t trendy, they don’t reflect the vagaries of the culture I’m living in, and they aren’t slaves to time. They are as close as I can get to what my mind’s eye sees as being timeless. What luxury you’ve afforded me, the TIME necessary to pursue these pieces. If I die tomorrow, I go with a devilish wink and an innocent child’s giggle. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you.

And now, the piece I finally, FINALLY, finished: S.S. Integrity.

ENJOY!
Best, M ... See MoreSee Less

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