Lungs for Readers | ARTJERK.NET
This post is designed less to give audience to art and more to give movement to the artjerks.
During the presale of my (Caleb J Ross) chapbook, Charactered Pieces, I vowed to fill each preordered copy with the sweet smell of ACID cigars. Luckily, the other artjerks were there to step up, as I surely would have crumbled had I attempted to stink up the books on my own. Unlucky for the buyers of the books, the pages ended their bath smelling more like pre-smoking-ban dive bars than ACID cigars. Lesson learned, I suppose.
The art here is two things: 1) performance and 2) audience connection. While the former is easy to grasp, the latter is something all to often forgotten in the world of books and art. As agent representation for artists and authors dies the way of New Wave cocaine parties, it is becoming more and more the responsibility of the creator to ensure that his/her pieces are appreciated by as wide an audience as possible. It is my hope that the fake Lungs for Readers program (and this site, obviously) helps to facilitate audience connection in a way that is both increasingly necessary, and always a fucking blast for all parties involved.
Want to buy the book?
from OW Press (the publisher)
or from Amazon.com if you must
You said it, Caleb.
“IT” is imperative for an artist to communicate and draw in his/her audience. To invite them to join the discussion.
I’ve noticed through the years that all the best showmen have engaged their audience. This is especially important for the small-time artist.
Any band touring the regional circuit will surely fail if the crowd isn’t having fun! I think that applies to all working artists. We’ve got to offer something more than a book, a CD, or a canvas. We’ve got to invite our audience to be a part of the dialogue, to be a part of us. To offer something more than commercialism.
We’re all tired of buying souless, mass-produced garbage. To make the experience more personal is an atavistic goal that more artists should strive for.