Real Artists Ship

Version 0.96

Noah Wyle in Pirates of Silicon Valley, the only Steve Jobs movie worth watching

A couple years ago I was in Healdsburg, CA with a mission to find some art to decorate my house. There are several galleries in town, and I visited almost all of them. I chatted with the owner of the Harris gallery, which does have some nice art.

I kept my mind open when browsing, though I was also hoping someone had done a painting of a nice spot on a hiking trail, the Russian River Overlook. Unfortunately I couldn’t find any such painting, even online, and if I did find something it was a charicature of abstraction¹².

Russian River Overlook

Much of the artwork I saw wasn’t very good. That’s been a universal truth when browsing art for sale whether it be at a coffee shop or a gallery.

What is good art? In humanities class in high school our teacher told us to flip to the end of our text, Fleming’s Arts & Ideas, and write “What is art?” with the hope that at the end of the course we’d have a better idea. My definition was that if one person thinks it is art, it’s art. In Edmund Burke’s On Taste, he talks about taste being global and objective, and if your exposure is limited, how can you be a good judge? And, Ani Difranco sings, art is why I get up in the morning, my definition ends there.

One day, maybe 8 years ago, I was walking along 21st street a couple blocks from Dolores Park in San Francisco, and I saw a steel artwork fence above a garage. I took a photo and sent it to my uncle since it had all of the characteristics of his work. “I did that piece before you were born,” he replied. It was as if I had stumbled upon a Ghiberti or a Jenny Holzer.

Growing up on the East Coast, I hadn’t met my uncle until I visited a little more than 15 years ago. When I arrived at his studio on Hannah Street in Emeryville I was taken aback. During the 2008 downturn he had purchased two neighboring properties and they were both filled with steel sculptures. That isn’t to detract from the studio itself, which is an enormous, decorated steel hangar featured in the 2003 movie Hulk³. When I went inside there were no fewer surpises. For example, he opened a drawer and there were hundreds of original and print works.

I’ve had coffee with him a few times, and he’s very down to earth (as you can see in the video above). He was “discovered” in the early 90s, meaning galleries sought to display his work for sale. His work was featured in Basic Instinct, Microsoft’s art gallery, and he’s donated works to the Oakland museum. His website, itself an expression, makes one’s mind boggle at the extent of the works he’s produced and the detail of those works. This isn’t Jackson Pollock splashing paint on a canvas, he’s gracefully cutting steel⁴ with a hand torch! He has to source all of his supplies, organize it, cut it, weld it, clean up. How many pieces can you complete in a day? He hangs out and socializes at places like Jump N Java in Oakland and Roy’s of Amboy. Not to mention dealing with all other aspects of living. Idling must not be in his vocabulary.

People will always criticize art. I mentioned the Mona Lisa to a gallery owner who went out of her way to tell me how she thought it was awful. I don’t disagree that it is overhyped. At the Louvre, I scoffed at the Mona Lisa crowd, and turned to my right to see, hanging in solitude, Madonna of the Rocks⁵. In Healdsburg I criticized some gallery works as low effort, grade school level. I think few have the talent to produce anything like the Mona Lisa or a hand-crafted steel sculpture.

It seems even those who qualify as mediocre simply do their trade as a hobby. Hobbies are great; they often yield happiness. Whether visual artists, pianists, chefs, athletes, homebuilders, or software developers. They aren’t serious. They don’t challenge themselves. They lack passion. On the other hand, real artists ship. Artists love making art. That’s all they do, produce. It’s difficult to avoid greatness when you deliberately take an interest.

Coincidentally, today is Apple’s 50th birthday. Steve Wozniak has been announced as Apple’s incoming CEO effective this August. Congratulations, Steve!