I agree with you. Sometimes I can even tell when someone went to graduate school, found their thing and that was it. They stopped looking. And the work sort of stood still. Not long ago I interviewed an artist who said she hadn’t been out much – too busy – hadn’t seen any of the shows that happened right before hers, etc. I find that so wrong. She’s a part of a landscape – doesn’t she want to know what it looks like? It’s not about copying at all. It’s about a conversation.

I don't want to come off unkind, but doesn't the "conversation" become just as dull & repetitive like the art that gets shown that looks all the same? I found that once a catch phrase or comparison got going, every artist and art professor were parroting it over and over. It's maddening! And makes one want to take a break from the monotonous "conversation" as well as looking at the candy wrapper art.

Great post, Carol. What do you make outsider art? (Is Aki your new grandbaby? So Beautiful!)

Good question!

I like much Outsider Art and, in fact, have been very influenced by it. What I'm talking about here, however, is work that uses the tropes of contemporary art without contributing anything new to it.

Yes, Aki is my new grandson. I was trying to sneak him in in context.

To "Anonymous" who finds conversations about art boring, I suggest you find new people to talk to. Or change fields.

Hey, wait a minute. You're reading this blog, which is a conversation about art. Do you find it boring? (I assume you're reading it of your own free will, as I've given my henchmen the weekend off.)

To be fair, I find your blog to be very interesting to read. Your conversations about art and the art world are not at all boring. This is why I like reading your blog. Your blog is one of the rare ones out there.

Great post. I do think that it's a balance. Sometimes the art jargon and latest trends of the day need to be counteracted by stepping away and creating one's own problems to solve.

BTW, love your blog. Been a fan for quite some time.