helen ferguson crawford: Going Big: a survey and opening night

joyce miller, discarded thoughts.

artists meet in coffee shops and bars. we talk about thoughts, art, life and studio. it's a thing, and always has been. at the famous cedar tavern, the ab-exer's met almost every night. they drank, laughed, fought, sulked, said stupid things and sometimes said brilliant things. they went on the road together. they networked in common creativity. they participated in salon style exhibitions.

"And Franz was a charmer and filled with -oh, Phil Guston and I got talking, telling Franz Kline stories. Phil told this: Franz also was a great drinker, and they went out, he and Franz were on a panel at the Chicago Art Institute. Franz stayed up all night the night before, drinking all night. When they got back on the panel, Franz's head was nodding like a dormouse, he was so sleepy, and they were fighting back and forth, the audience. Franz didn't say much. Someone says, "What is painting, anyhow?" Franz lifted his head and he said, 'Painting, painting's like stuffing a mattress. Didn't you ever stuff a mattress?" - Grace Hartigan

we know what it means to "stuff a mattress". Franz's comment is a brilliant description of the feeling of making artworks. so much is pouring out of our skin we have to put it somewhere to get comfortable or even uncomfortable. one doesn't do this work unless it is necessary to be at peace in the world. we break and then we build. many of us are in our studios all day long in solitude; social media sometimes becomes our tavern. we create, share, meet, drink, fight, sulk, say stupid things, and sometimes say brilliant things. occasionally, we gather together in big ways, in real space and time, and make things happen, just as artists have for centuries.

Going Big is a large, salon-style group show of art colleagues, who hang in a virtual tavern. curated by Suzan Shutan and Susan Carr, the exhibition highlights the work of 111 artists from across the country. all the work is 16 inches in size or under. the artists participating in Going Big range from established artists to mid-career artists to emerging artists. the work from the show is for sale.