work/work/work from somebody else

there's a painter who showed at jerry dale's place in the summer in teh show julia was in. i liked her work. i do. i didn't get to talk to her at the opening seein as how it was jerry dales first big show in his new big space so the place was swamped. anyway- i read her blog on occassion. here is a post from way back- echoing my work rant earlier this week:

go here for her blog:
http://maryaddisonhackett.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Work: a rant on linguistics

I ran into someone I hadn't seen in a while and they asked what was new. I'm not the most eloquent conversationalist and I always forget to name-drop, toot my own horn, or in general, reel off my recent coups, so I said, "Oh you know, teaching and working." To which they replied, "Are you still making art?"

???

I'm sure I had a blank stare on my face, but I was dumbfounded. I mean, it's kinda the only thing I do and I'm slightly obsessive about it. It would be like asking a workaholic if they ever work. Actually it was like asking a workaholic if they ever work. Maybe next time, I should clarify what I mean by working, but what else would I be referring to? I can't be the only one who refers to making art and everything it entails as work? (For the record, the person who asked me this is really nice and this is not a rant directed at them.)

It threw me for a loop as I tried to process what they meant. I ended up stammering out something profound like, "well... yeah," followed by an awkward moment of silence. Then I felt kind of silly reeling off a few lines from my resume like I had to prove I made art this past year. On the way home, I became paranoid that I was living in oblivion, which, by the way, is a pretty funny movie.