As an artist I’d like to undercut the corporate and government sponsored art. The streets have more immediacy and life. The syringe might be one of the most taboo objects in the public’s eye. Recently I was doing a guerilla gallery in a downtown Denver public park. I had no vendor’s license. I was doing live art and had a display of diabetic work which was mostly pressed on traffic cones. Many drug addicts who were homeless or otherwise were expressing interest in the work as well as pedestrians.
A couple weeks ago I had my gallery set up and was carving a cone cut when two policemen on bikes signaled me. “What are you doing?” they asked. “Live art,” I said. One of them picked up a cone print and said, “What if I wanted to take this?” “I would ask for a donation,” I said. At that point they determined I was selling art despite there being no transaction.
As they were doing the paperwork one of them asked where I got the cones. I refused to answer. Then one made a snide remark about how the art had an intravenous drug theme. At that point I lost it. “Have you ever heard of insulin?” I wanted to make those two bullies ashamed of their inappropriate behavior. I mean, if you’re gonna give me a court summons for illegally selling art, just do the paperwork.
I went to the city government the next day and asked about a vendor’s license for doing live art in parks. Other than weenie carts they don’t allow such an outlet. The money system sucks. Since when is it harmful to be an entrepreneur and make money at what you’re good at? The system has certainly put a foreclosure sign on our real estate. The official routes make it virtually impossible for a poorer artist to gain a booth or rental space at good venues. Recently I have started a sidewalk gallery at my apartment building. People do yard and garage sales all the time. Anyway, just sounding off.