When opportunity texts at the last minute
you move like there's no tomorrow coming
This morning was the start of one of those days that happen once in a while where I got to reap the benefits of a brief conversation that took place almost two months ago. So, as life so often chooses for us, the time for action on seeds planted weeks ago spouted suddenly and I had to take action right away this morning. Before I finish about this morning, let’s go back a few weeks.
One morning close to Christmas or just after, I ran into a friend, Mike, who works at the local Fox affiliate, Fox 29, and works on an arts and lifestyle show called “Good Day Uncut”. The show segments are live-streamed on the station’s app and online, then later broadcast on tv. Mike asks me if I’d be interested in being on the show, that’s hosted by a reporter named Hank Flynn. I automatically said yes because I had some history with Mike having been interviewed by him in my studio back in 2023. After our conversation, I went about my business, knowing that the opportunity to be on the new segment might not come for a while, based on their schedule.
Cut to this morning, when I get a text at home around 9:30 from Mike saying that someone had cancelled appearing on this morning’s “Good Day Uncut” and asked if I wanted to do it. The segment was at 11am, and remember, it’s live. I wasn’t anywhere near ready to leave the house, but I said “yes” right away because you never know when these opportunities might come around again. Whatever was on my mind got pushed away as I sprinted to get dressed, feed the cats, grab a banana for breakfast, quickly made a couple of sandwiches to eat for the day and caught the bus. I made it with about ten minutes to spare.
One thing that I’m thankful for is having already had some experiences with public speaking about my artwork. That and being flexible enough at this point to be able to take advantage of a situation like this at a moment’s notice. I get nervous all of the time with public speaking with an audience in front of me, but when it’s just me and another person engaging in a chat like today, I can tune out knowing people are watching/listening on the other end of things.
I was mostly pleased with how I sounded in response to the questions Hank asked. The only exception was when he asked about art auctions. My response was tuned into the financial aspect where artists don’t any residuals from auction sales. The money that’s exchanged is generally between the seller, buyer and auction house. The artist only gets the profit from the initial sale through a gallery or directly with a collector.
In recent years, there have been attempts at remaking the auction system to better benefit artists when works go to auction, but true parity on this level is a ways off.
What auction sales *can* do is make or, in some cases, break, an artist’s career. Your work having a reputation for selling well on the secondary market can have the effect of increasing the value of your work in the eyes of collectors and institutions. The opposite is also true of auctions, where if the prices for an artist’s work goes down significantly at auction, that can have a negative effect on primary sales. All of this is dependent on a lot of issues, but this is what I missed talking about during the segment.
I just thought about something: this is going to be the first time that some of you will hear me speak and move around the space. Most of what I post are still photos or time-lapse vids.
Anyway, here’s a link to the video: Tim McFarlane on Good Day Uncut
Many thanks to Mike Greenidge and Hank Flynn at Fox 29 for thinking of me for this opportunity!
If you have any thoughts or comments, let me know!
Last week, I opened my doors to a group of about 18 senior art students from Kutztown University, about 90 minutes outside of Philadelphia, between Reading and Allentown. It was a quick visit, lasting only about 20 minutes or so. The students were on a trip into the city with their professor, Leslie Friedman, a multidisciplinary artist whose practice includes printmaking, photography and site-specific installations. The students were in a works on paper class that Leslie teaches at Kutztown.
The class was visiting three studios and a couple of gallery spaces on the first floor, plus the Clay Studio, which is right across the street and is a long-time Philadelphia institution for exhibitions ceramics and classes. The other artists they visited were Arden-Bendler Browning and Richard Hricko. Arden and I both showed at Bridgette Mayer Gallery before Arden left last year and Richard was my printmaking instructor back in college. His space is right down the hall from mine.
Since the class was about works on paper, of course I chose to have some of my works on paper out for them to see. The pieces on the left are from 2023, as are the larger pieces on the right. The only difference besides size is that the two on the right are repurposed from work I made in 2012 and didn’t know what to do with at that time.
The students were really attentive. There was a lot of note-taking and really good questions from them and Leslie. It’s hard to figure out what to focus on when you have so little time to speak to a group like this, but I managed to give a brief introduction to myself and my work and just opened up the floor to questions.
Speaking of works on paper
Last weeks was busy with studio visits. Besides the class visit, I had a private studio visit with a potential buyer. I brought out these pieces to show them and thought I’d share them with you, as well. These are all from 2021 and as you can see, focus mainly on the glyphs alone, as opposed to them being subsumed into a denser composition, like in many of my paintings and other works. I was making a few of these a day at this size and smaller, just being generative and working through ideas.
I say this a lot, but my paper works are meant to stand on their own and not as precursors to paintings. They may serve as influences, but are never made with the intention of them being just a step in a larger process leading to a different finished work.
Exit
Since discovering it a few weeks ago, I’ve become a big fan of The Lot Radio and want to share a couple of special new dj sessions from them that I’ve listened to recently…
The first one is with Reggie Watts who performed most of his own productions and those of others he liked. Many of you reading may already know Reggie Watts from his run on Comedy Bang! Bang! and as the house band leader for The Late, Late Show with James Corden. Reggie has done some acting and is known for his improvisational comedy and music-making which is on full display in this video.
Kamran Sadeghi is new to me. I only know of him from this set that I listened to yesterday. I visited his website and realized that he does a wide range of electronic, immersive soundscape work. Check out his site here: Kamran Sadeghi
This is one of a few random things made on my phone with Instagram’s story drawing and gif functions, the phone’s photo app and the Pic Art app. A new post is slowly coming together where I’ll be talking about my phone-based digital experiments and their place in my work.
A neighbor put up these fake plants on a utility pole towards the beginning of winter. Walking past them today, combined with the (I’m sure temporary) mild temperatures have me dreaming of spring. It’s on the way…
Hey, thanks for reading and supporting my brain spillage every week and I hope to be back soon. Thanks for being here…
TM
Very cool, Tim! And congratulations on the opportunity!
Oh my goodness, that clip is SO great! And Kutztown University?! I shoulda caught a ride with them, they're like... 2 blocks away hahah