recognition of risky thinking and you're invited to the show...

i recently submitted some abstract works to an open call for artists here in los angeles. i'm kind of picky about who and what i submit art to -but this show was different. it was being judged by someone quite special. howard fox. the curator of contemporary art at LACMA. the creation of new original art is hard because so many artists have already experimented with so much already. all sorts of examples are on display in museums all over the world. the only way to do something new is to research as much as you can and then find some perspective and process that creates a new result. and results are all that is important. that body of work that speaks for itself. in my research of artist and thier art in general i had the opportunity to view the gerhardt richter exhibit at the met in nyc. it was something i never had any interest in seeing. and now in retrospect, i realize how pivotal it was. his abstracts were truly original yet used all the familiar things that make paintings -paintings. i set about making notes, sketches and searched the internet to see everything abstract i could. i ultimately broke down the question of abstract art for myself. and in doing that, exposed the elements of it so i could then go about finding what was for me, the next hard question that needed answering. and so came the abstract body of work i now have on my website. it was all very risky. abstract in particular is entirely subjective. either you like it or you don't. when i started my abstract work it wasn't hard to find people who didn't like it. no one did. no one understood it. no one could understand why i had abondonded portrait painting and figurative work. my friends told me i was wasting my time and was out of my mind. that last part might be true but, the other statements were wrong. i was scared. hell, i didn't know what i was doing. but i didn't stop. i just slogged on thru until i started to see what the process revealed. it was an original experience and i believe it produced original art. but i needed some kind of acknowledgement from some one who knew. that, i'm happy to say has changed. out of 1400 works of art submitted by 400 artists howard fox chose only 78 pieces of art for the show. 2 of them were mine. i was shocked, elated and immediately nervous. nothing like the fear of not having enough of what (hopefully) everyone will want. this is supposed to be quite a show for collectors, what with it being filled with artists mr. fox thinks are the artists to collect. i'm looking forward to the show and anything it might bring. for anyone in the los angeles area your invited to the reception: open show los angeles art association/ gallery 825 www.laaa.org 825 north la cienega blvd. los angeles, ca. 90069 www.davidthomaspaintings.com