Throughout my career I have engaged in many different mediums. As I move though the process of the current series I am working on, my Gallery/Studio doors are open to the public. It is interesting how frequently visitors ask rude questions. The most common question right now is some form of "how much money do you have or make". It makes me want to close my doors to the public. It's rude. It saps any joy I find in my work. I don't believe people who ask such rude questions deserve to be in the presence of my work...and so I consider closing my doors. At least I do not feel about my current business the way I do about the performance/entertainment industry.
After being engaged in theater and other performance-based work I have come to have a great disrespect for the industry and all those in it because you can not be in the entertainment industry and not support or participate in the lying, abuse, thievery and out-right assault that saturates entertainment culture. That's not to say that performance Art is without its merit...all true Art is valuable. All I'm saying is the industry around performance is corrupt. As such I would like to offer my warnings about organizations with whom I have had particularly bad experience so that you may avoid the same:
1) SF Casting - this organization promises to connect members with jobs in the industry in the SF Bay area. They are not the only organization that does so. None of them are any good but this one is THE WORST. I was sent nothing but "student" and unpaid jobs for much of the time and the few paying jobs I got were a joke at best. A number of them never paid or I had to badger them for the promised payment which was next to nothing. On more than one job I left either because I was propositioned sexually or I witnessed someone else being propositioned or out-right assaulted. At one job the assault was on a person I believe to have been a minor.
2) Launch Showcase - this organization is little more than a human trafficking ring and content mill. One of the "producers" propositioned me for oral sex. Another one told me the only thing he could offer me was to make "the Art" for Katy Perry to copy. Much of my material was in fact stolen after my contact with this group and I never saw a dime for my Intellectual Property. They charge a lot of money and you have to travel around to pay to perform for these sleazy "producers". The resulting jobs I was offered after participating in a showcase were pornography jobs in New York. While at the Showcase I was also threatened a number of times and a number of attempts were made on my life when I returned home. I was brought in contact with this organization through SF Casting.
Leela SF - The folks that run and work for Leela SF fancy themselves psychologists. They do have some psychology training and many of the instructors are working towards being therapists. The group is manipulative, over priced and, in my opinion, unprofessional. If you are looking to do theater look elsewhere. This organization is a major mind-fuck of an experience. If you want to see a therapist, there are many actual therapists out there.
Sweetwater - I had the misfortune of working with a number of folks who frequent this place. I have never worked for Sweetwater or Bob Weir. What I can say about the music scene in the SF/Marin area is that it is not a good idea to work with anyone who has Grateful Dead ties. Everyone I have met and/or worked with have been old, mean, broke and cheap. They will stiff you out of payment they say they are going to pay you and then will steal your material telling you that you are an "inspiration". The Grateful Dead crowd are a serious bummer.
America's Got Talent - this show is totally rigged and they steal rampantly. I auditioned one summer down in LA. I made the mistake of auditioning with an original piece I wrote. I didn't get on the show, which was fine. That didn't bother me. What bothered me was what came after the fact. My song was chopped up and distributed among other "artists" and another song I wrote (but did not use at the audition) was ever so slightly modified and given to Lee Brice to sing. His version is crap, and again, I never saw a dime. Do NOT go anywhere near this organization. They are huge thieves.
Since being in contact with these (and other) industry organizations I have had millions of dollars of intellectual property stolen directly out of my home; from paintings to song lyrics to sketchbooks and journals full of concepts and ideas to garments and garment designs to hand drawn blue prints to recipes and proprietary culinary ingredients/preparations to digital documentation of my work on my computers. The industry is sleazy and no IP lawyer will talk to me because their client lists and wallets are padded by the industry that has stolen from me...and many others, no doubt. As a result, there is no one in the entertainment industry that I would ever consider an artist of any kind other than a con-artist. I don't go to movies or concerts or sports games anymore because I don't want to pay to consume stolen property...especially if it happens to be mine.
When you visit 1UV Gallery Studio and purchase work from me, you are consuming 100% original work that has not been stolen from anyone. I have made it myself. All of this is a hard truth, but it is the truth.
Comentarios