AN OPEN LETTER TO THE PUBLISHING WORLD
The most successful and profitable restaurant in the world today is McDonald’s. Most successful living American artist, Thomas Kinkade. Most successful performer, Lady Gaga. And they say the cream rises to the top? Don’t fucking think so… I say shit floats. If you were to take a big load of shit out into the desert and bury it 100 miles under the sand, sooner or later some enterprising American marketing genius would find it, dig it up again, and sell it for a billion dollars to the public…
My good friend, Joe Coleman, the greatest visionary painter of our generation — perhaps of all time — was kicked out of art school for doing “offensive” work which was “too graphic and confrontational.” Thank god he persisted to become the highly respected, successful artist he is today, with his works hanging in major museums all over the world… If you don’t know his work, btw, you should check it out….
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Nonetheless, I truly believe that if the likes of Kerouac, Bukowski and Henry Miller were alive today, they’d have a good bit of trouble getting their books published in the dumbed-down, beiged-out cultural climate we all live in now. I could go on and on citing examples of this fucked up deal… A case in point is a story the great American writer Jerry Stahl told me recently. In order to prove the point I’m trying to make here, someone took one of Jerzy Kosinski’s lesser-known novels and retitled it. They submitted it with a different name to Kozinski’s original publisher as a new work by an unknown author. The publisher REJECTED it out of hand, saying the work didn’t ”meet their standards” for publication. Doubtless, the publishing house’s college-educated executive clone who read the piece had never even heard of Jerzy Kosinski…
Grants to support and nurture ”outsider” artists in America such as the NEA have all but dried up. More and more today, important artists and writers are having to take on menial jobs to support their efforts. It is a sad state of affairs, and it’s getting worse. When a society dishonors its artists — the collective conscience of humanity — it is the surest sign of decadence and imminent decline. The empire is swiftly falling. Progressive thinking has become a crime in today’s world, punishable by death.
The only thing an artist can do anymore is to simply persist and ”follow their bliss” subversively against great odds. My own work was at the same time praised heavily and then rejected by the best in the publishing business before I finally decided to go outside the system and do something different…
I am truly grateful for the degree (however small) of support I’ve been blessed with along the way. My greatest hope is that whatever success I may eventually find as a writer will stand as a living encouragement to other ”outsiders” who are having a hard time being heard to just keep going and never shut up.
Jonathan Shaw, 2010
you gotta just keep doing what you’re passionate about… changing my life path at age 40 and following my hearts desire of practising art is the best thing I’ve ever done outside having my kids… my purse is empty but my heart is full…
Respect.
thanks, maggie. you speak the truth. keep going…
In America we have created a mindset that is slowly poisoning the minds of the World. Kids believe if you are on Entertainment Tonight or pictured on a trash magazine you must have some kind of talent.
They will never realize that the truly gifted… passionate artistic individuals may never be known by the masses. But these gifted souls are truly recognized by those of us that don’t buy the crap & empty words that are sold in quality to the walking dead of the World.
Just keep writing… the living of the World hear you.
Damn, whatta message!!
Instant gratification, zero ratiocination: Amerika’s sensorium is hard-wired straight to its rectum, by-passing the brain altogether. I wish I could say we are doomed, but said death will be so incremental, few will notice.
I’m loving these comments, folks. It is truly encouraging to find there’s actually some intelligent life forms out there. It’s people like you who I dedicate my work to. Thank you for your support.
death by rectal incarceration, Jake? LOL, Yeah; Sad but true.
A very intriguing post. This helps explain this cruel world, and how tough it is for us artists.
~Kale