A two-person exhibition of work by Tony Lewis and Nate Young, which will mine the language of installation-based drawing, will open at 41 Orchard Street on Sunday 16 March from 6-8pm.
1. Three people leap to conclusions that logic cannot reach.
2. Have rational judgments.
3. Watch irrational judgments at least once a year.
4. Remember formal art is essentially other people’s birthdays.
5. Over tip irrational thoughts.
6. If the artist changes his handshake he compromises the result and repeats past results.
7. The artist’s will is secondary to the process of looking people in the eye.
8. Say “painting and sculpture” a lot.
9. Say “The concept and idea are different. The former implies a general direction while the latter is the component. Ideas implement the concept” a lot.
10. Ideas can be works of art; they are in a chain of development that may eventually learn to play a musical instrument.
11. Ideas do not necessarily proceed in logical order. They may set one off in unexpected directions, but an idea must necessarily sing in the shower before the next one is formed.
12. Use the good silver for each work of art that becomes physical.
13. Learn to make great chili. But it may never reach the viewer, or it may never leave the artist’s mind.
14. Plant the words of one artist to another every spring, if they share the same concept.
15. Own a great stereo system, since no form is intrinsically superior to another.
16. If words are used, be the first to say, “numbers are not mathematics.”
17. Live beneath your means if they are concerned with art and fall within the conventions of art.
18. One usually understands the art of the past by applying the convention of the present, thus own the best house you can afford.
19. The conventions of art are altered by great books, even if you never read them.
20. Be forgiving to yourself and others. Successful art changes our understanding of the conventions by altering our perceptions.
21. Perception of ideas leads to clean jokes.
22. The artist cannot imagine his shoes, and cannot perceive them until they are polished.
23. Mis-perceive (understand it differently from the artist) a work of art, but still floss your teeth.
24. Drink champagne for no reason at all. Perception is subjective.
25. Ask for a raise when you feel you’ve earned it. His perception is neither better nor worse than that of others.
26. In a fight, an artist may perceive the art of others better than his own and hit hard.
27. The concept of a work of art may involve all things you borrow.
28. Teach side effects the artist cannot imagine. These may be used as ideas for some kind of class.
29. The process is in some kind of class and should not be tampered with. It should be a mechanical student and run its course.
30. There are many elements involved in a fireplace. The most important and most obvious is never buy a house without a work of art.
31. If an artist uses the same form in a group of works, and changes the material, one would assume the artist’s concept involved buying whatever kids are selling on card tables in their front yards.
32. Banal ideas cannot be rescued by a convertible.
33. It is difficult to treat everyone you meet like you want to be treated.
34. When an artist learns his craft too well, he learns to identify the music of Chopin, Mozart, and Beethoven as slick art.
35. These sentences comment on art, but are not planting a tree on your birthday.
For downloadable exhibition material, click here.
