Bitter is The Whine

Normal 0 Who likes sour grapes? Not me. I’m usually the first one to poo poo sour grapes, based solely on principal. Are these sour grapes I offer? I don’t know, I guess I’m not sure how objective I can be about this. I live in Youngstown, Ohio As many know, prior to the late seventies, Youngstown was a flourishing steel town, well endowed with old money. In such a climate, art, and culture tend to thrive. When local American steel companies moved to Japan, it was the death of Youngstown. To make that statement locally, is sacrilege.  The people who remain either turn a blind eye, or try to have hope beyond reason. Youngstown currently has less than sixty percent of it’s densest population. It’s estimated that every third house in Youngstown is abandoned. The city of Youngstown caught national attention by making the unprecedented motion of abandoning whole neighborhoods, and sections of town, declaring them, “no longer a part of the city of Youngstown. In the year 2000, The city elders unveiled their, “Youngstown 2010” initiative, outlining the ten year path of recovery, and prosperity for our city. As time passed, that dream faded. Now that it’s 2009, no one really mentions, “Youngstown 2010.” Last I heard, it’s been reshaped into a directive to convert, “grayspace” to “greenspace”. That amounts to replacing abandoned buildings with trees. I guess that is a, “recovery” of the most basic sort. Among those who would like to deny that they live in a ghost town, are those that cling to the notion that art is not dead in Youngstown. With the exception of The Butler Institute of American Art, art is indeed dead in Youngstown. The Butler is a true institution, in that it is a hold out from better times, and has managed to stand in these grim times. Aside from The art gallery in The Butler, who is proven to be supportive of local artists, there is only one remaining art gallery. I’m not stupid. Times are tough in the best of places. This is one of the most impoverished places in the country. I know the market for selling art locally is small to nonexistent. Be that as it may, being an at least adequate local fine artist with a reasonable body of work, I felt it would be good, and worth while to try to schedule an exhibition at the only independent art gallery left. I’m not what most would consider an established artist, I’m self-taught, and lack credentials. I’ve always felt that credentials were only important to automatons, and lackeys. I think the proof is in the putting.  I put together a proposal for a solo exhibition as per the gallery’s guidelines and submitted it. I felt confident and certain that it was the first step towards a mutually rewarding alliance, and perhaps a statement, that amidst this desolation, hope springs eternal, and art can happen anywhere someone expresses it. I believed that the lofty whispers of those who say interest in Youngstown artists can be nurtured, could ring true. “Thanks for entering your artwork for consideration, however the committee sees rarely an opportunity for a one artist exhibition”. That’s what the form letter said. I’m not really sure what that means aside from the obvious. Everyone rues rejection, but it’s more the implications of the rejection that I find troubling. I have a general philosophy that can be summed up in a couple of my favorite quotes: “Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.”-Theodore Roosevelt. The U.S. Army Officer’s Training manual states, “Any plan, no matter how poorly conceived, if boldly executed, is better than inaction”. I’ll have my exhibition. It will be in Cleveland, or Pittsburgh. I have a great deal of confidence in a better future through art for myself. I’m sorry I can’t say the same for Youngstown.

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