Love and Hate

In any circumstances in life, love and hate always come together. I am in the midst of those two feelings for art. One day, I ask myself, “Why is art so special?” Or “ What makes people so excited about?” Piled and piled objects.... most of them, I shall say, are junk-ish and painful to my eyes. Then, I ask myself again, “Where are they ending up? Will the artist take them with his coffin? (It could be really pricy, unless they all are burned.) “ Once an artist (this time, I am only talking about an established one) dies, it is a whole different story. The price of the artworks will skyrocket immediately and people are chasing after the work with a wad of dollars. Thus, the work, regardless of the artist's intention, will become a toy for adults to toss around or a tool for making nothing but MONEY. Is this right? Everybody dies without an exception and nothing will be left on his hands. Period. Above all, the thing that gives me headache about the art world is that everybody from a gallerist, a collector to an artist has "I-am-so-important," attitude. Then, It gets me "what-so-ever" attitude. However, it is contradicted to say, I do have passion for art as well. I have been working on preparing the next show in the gallery. The show is a solo show by one of my favorite artist, William Villalong whose star is about rise. Dealing with the show, I realized how much I like supporting an artist in many ways. When the artist has sincere passion, I ride over his passion. Then, the show becomes more than just a show. We all share sweats and bloods. The whole process to make the show great give me just Great feeling. One dealer states, "The most inspiring thing about a society is the man of culture it produces." I will say, I like art, as simply it is a thing produced by a human being. I like getting to know somebody through art, which is beyond verbal communications. With love an passion, when a flower, called sometime a painting or an installation, is bloomed, we all sense a fragrance of it. And, we all know that behind the scene there is hate (distress and doubt) feeling of the artist attached. Love and Hate. In life, both cannot be ignored.

William Villalongo, " Don't You Worry Bout a Thing," 2007
courtesy of Esso Gallery