Hello People, talk to me...

I'm curious what other people think about identity and place in the context of being an artist. Some of these are devil's advocate questions.

• What makes an artist, a "Los Angeles/New York/Chicago/Midwest, Southern, Canadian, Kansas City, Peoria, etc" artist? Did you notice any stereotyping as you read that list?
• Is identifying as an artist from a specific place relevant in understanding the work, or just a convenient byline to add to the bio?
• If too much emphasis is placed on identity and location, how is this different from regionalism?
• Does a city need or want a cohesive artistic identity? Why? Wouldn't that lead to a closed system or stunt artistic growth?
• Does simply being identified with an arts capital give an artist more weight, regardless of what kind of work they do?
• How does any of this affect the actual art being made and the opportunities for growth as an artist?
• Do artists still strive or need to leave smaller cities in order to live a fulfilled life in the arts?
• If there is a certain stigma to being an [insert city] artist. If so, why?
• Every now an then I see some Utopian arts village being advertised located far from the maddening crowd. Cheaper space, a community for artists, lots of valid reasons enticing artists to relocate. Why don't these work?
• How can smaller cities become more vital in the arts?
• Do all artists suffer from what was referred to as a "malaise" in being from a smaller city?
• When I lived in Chicago 15 years ago, people were talking about leaving to go to NY or LA, so really, what's place go to do with it; we can't all live in 2 or 3 cities?

The reasons are usually obvious why artists leave smaller cities, so I'm more curious on finding solutions or innovations for why and how artists can make smaller cities more vital.

And by smaller cities I mean cities independent of a major arts-centric city. Like for instance, Long Beach or Hoboken wouldn't cut it in my discussion.

Obviously, I've my own reasons for posing this question, but I'd love to hear from anyone, including dealers, gallerists, curators, collectors etc. who stumbles upon this post.

Thanks,

m.a.h.

Today is a studio day, but first....

An online arts journal, called Nashville Critical recently started up with something of a call to arms in defining what's critical in Nashville. Having moved away from Nashville about 20 years ago partially due to a lack of professional exhibition opportunities, I felt compelled to contribute.

Addendum: (To clarify- when I say a lack of professional exhibition spaces, what I really meant to say, was that there were only one or two commercial galleries in town. Didn't want anyone to get the impression that there was a plethora of non-professional spaces in town, or that there was a total dearth of professionalism. Just not many spaces, period. Why, back in the day, there weren't even coffeehouses, and I had to grind my own pigment and chop my own wood.)

I'm tired of thinking.