I’ve been very busy over the last four years exhibiting artwork across the country. I’ve been in some 70 shows, including 39 exhibitions at college or university art venues and museums. I’ve packed and shipped countless pieces of work to galleries in 23 states from Oregon to Florida. I’ve done a seemingly endless number of different series using most every tool or technique at my disposal. Some of the work has been rewarding and some pedestrian. I’ve learned some things along the way and, overall, it’s been a worthwhile experience.
But, now, the old man is tired and it’s time to stop. I’ve reached a kind of Forrest Gump threshold, where I’ve simply decided to stop running. There are no parameters to this threshold and no clearly delineated reasons for stopping–at least that I’m willing to discuss in depth in a public forum such as this. I’m just stopping. Stopping implies an end, although it also suggests that the opposite (starting) could take place at some point in the future. I wouldn’t rule out the possibility of becoming a full-time exhibiting art junkie again, perhaps in 2016 when the U.S. Presidential election cycle comes to fruition. There’s nothing quite like organized idiocy to rekindle one’s taste for artistic social commentary.
On the other hand, perhaps I’ll leave art behind altogether and pursue something else. For some time I’ve been interested in the concept of doing nothing and being good at the pursuit of nothingness. Perhaps I’ll learn how to have fun. Perhaps I’ll focus on my family, which now includes a baby granddaughter. Maybe I’ll write. Maybe I’ll play music again. Maybe I’ll just be.
So, for now, it’s goodbye. Goodbye to art and goodbye to blogging about the arts. Adios, Muchachos!
davidwillison 