welder

Don't much come around these parts often. But it's been busy. Busy moving, working, dealing with The Man, and that kind of stuff.

So, I found out this week that I have officially been appointed to the Reno Arts & Culture Commission

I'm pretty excited about this. The art community here has some good momentum and I think with some work this place has the potential to go far. Now I have a great opportunity to help with that

Well, today I've been recovering from the NadaDada Motel event. All around couldn't have asked for a better exhibition on a personal level and a better event on a community level. I sold work, got my picture printed on page 2 of the local paper, handed out business cards until I ran out (and then started writing my contact info down on the back of leftover flyers), met a lot of other really cool artists, and most importantly just had a ton of fun. The overall event had a great vibe. The Barenaked Ladies had played a show in Reno on one of the nights and even came down to the event and were hanging out with the guys in the room next to mine. Just awesome!

So I'm gonna be spending most of this weekend preparing for my NadaDada Motel exhibition. The event happens in Reno June 17-20. Basically a bunch of artists take over a bunch of old motels in downtown Reno and rent out a bunch of rooms for 4 days and each make a show. All kinds of cool and crazy art. This is what real art is all about!

So today I'm digging out all of my frames, mattboard, framing supplies etc. Haven't had to really prepare a big exhibition in quite awhile, it'll be just like the good old gallery days

If anyone reading this happens to be in Reno during the dates of the show, please come see me at the Lido Inn, room #312

Press release: www.nadadadadingdong.net/forum…

Ok, first off, if you are one of those people who puts the DA watermark on top of your image, please understand this is not meant to be a personal attack on you, just the expression of one man's opinion.

That said, let me get to the point: I hate watermarks.

Now I've been posting on DeviantArt for some years now, and for as long as I can remember there have been people who put some kind of watermark over their images. Some of these have been less intrusive than others, and some are almost tolerable, but the DA watermark that I seem to be running into everyone nowadays is by far the worst thing I've seen. It destroys the viewers ability to look at an image.

You fear your artwork getting ripped, you say? I'll put forth these questions:

1. Why are you uploading the image to the internet in the first place? If it is because you want people to look at it, then the watermark prevents that from happening.

2. Why are you so afraid of your artwork being ripped? Is your piece of high commercial value and you stand to lose a lot of money? If so then maybe you are better off not posting it on the internet.

3. Related to point #2 above...if your piece is of high commercial value, how much of that value can someone really utilize from a downsized 900 pixel image (I am assuming of course you are not uploading your full resolution image)?

4. Are you afraid of someone else taking credit for your artwork? That someone else will steal your rightful fame? Consider that most people who rip other people's art will either wallow in obscurity, or if they do hit it big they will eventually be found out. But if you're going to be upset because someone else got that 1 or 2 extra +favs that should've appeared under your name, then ask yourself another question:

5. Is your primary reason for making art because you love it and want to share it or because you want to amass a bunch of favs and pageviews to show how awesome you are? Yes, absolutely it's great to get those pageviews and comments and favs, it's wonderful to have that feeling of gratification and know that other people like your work. But the acclaim and the accolades have to come second, because otherwise you lose sight of the passion that got you started making the art in the first place.

Yes, I've had my photos ripped. Several times. But I will refuse to let the fear of getting ripped override the reason I make art in the first place: to share with people and have them look at it. Art isn't any good if people don't look at it. And people can't look at it if there's a big watermark obscuring it.

Fight the rippers at every chance you get. But don't let those unethical scum dictate how you present your art to the world. It's about what you do, not what they do.

__