Since moving to LA, I’ve found myself in some wonderfully convenient situations that also happen to revolve around the ideas that are rooted in my artwork, particularly how we create our personal identity around money.
One example is my position as Andrea Zittel’s personal assistant where an important part of my regimen involves handling her finances (on a personal note, Zittel has long been a favorite of mine). I find it interesting that my qualifications for the job were mostly that I am involved-in and understand contemporary art and through this qualification have learned various basic accounting skills. I’m wondering if I can take this unfolding of things to the next step and now apply for accounting/bookkeeping positions, thus evolving my identity. If I’m successful in obtaining a position, I will have taken my qualification as a contemporary artist and evolved it into the role of being a bookkeeper. Similar to a barter system where you start by exchanging something you already have for something greater, turn around and exchange that and so on until you have obtained what you desire. In my case, I desire to be a contemporary artist and so maybe this could be a dynamic course of evolutions that take me back to where I am now but more evolved. I’ll start keeping track of this flip flopping of skills and career identities.
Another example is my position at François Ghebaly Gallery, an up and comer in the Culver City gallery district as well as LA at large. This Art Basel Miami Beach season, I’ll be accompanying the gallery to NADA art fair on Miami Beach to assist directly in selling the work of their represented artists. It could be interesting to somehow acknowledge both that I am an artist selling other artists work, and that I am everyting but an artist selling artists work, taking on two opposing roles one at a time, alternating days. In playing these roles– would my approach to selling the work change? Would the way I project myself and/or are treated by prospective buyers change? This will strictly be an experiment for my learning to possibly develop work from, in the future.