Below are the 12 most recent journal entries recorded in mat's LiveJournal:

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Monday, November 16th, 2009
12:51 pm	Brit Essay on Art Academia as Upper Class A great essay from England about how the art academics perpetuate the deepest upper-class prejudices. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009
2:13 am	Ongoing Interview with Yours Truly Artist James Westwater interviewed me for his blog - here is PART 2 of his four part (!!!) interview. We reached out to some blogs to talk about the art world and art on the eve of Coagula's 100th Issue. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, October 20th, 2009
12:28 am	Everyone on Facebook mentioned that Nancy Spero had died.  Nancy Spero passed way at 83. There always seemed to be a soul-less gap betwen the politics of her art and the extravagant art spaces where ti was exhibited, too. Same goes for her hubby Leon Golub. They were NOT in the trenches, nor telling us anything new, nor creating with urgency. In a way they parasited the political for art world glory. (Comment on this)
Sunday, October 4th, 2009
3:37 am	Greyhound Bus to Vegas Roundtrip Okay, let's just be bold and try taking the greyhound to vegas. we live on the bus route that goes by the LA Station in skid row so we were there pretty quick - but the lot there says FREE PARKING and the booth is unattended and it IS the shittiest part of L.A. just about... The station inside is clean as you have to pass heavy security to be anywhere save the ticket counter. sat around, saw the line forming, got some juice for the trip and got on the bus. Not crowded at all, had our pick of seats , all good. The bus was COLD and there was no way to control the fans blowing in. Realized that it was cold because people who take greyhound have B.O. and it is not as noticeable in chilly temperatures. I had a jacket on and a ski cap pulled over my eyes, and I slept most of the way there in a comfortable seat. We stopped in Baker for a break, it was almost a hundred outside. Ate at an Arby's (yuk) and were in Downtown Vegas about an hour later. Bus left at 4 PM, we got there at 11 PM. We are Vegas veterans so we knew exactly where to go and we only had carry-on luggage so we walked three blocks to our hotel and checked in. It was a breeze - the ride was uneventful and comfortable. I had enough experience with the elements around the Greyhound station that I was not shocked or upset with people whose luggage was a plastic garbage bag or people who talked to themselves. So then on the way back we walk into the Vegas station for our Noon busride at 11:20 AM and the station is almost empty. A bus driver says to us, "Los Angeles?" and takes our ticket and holds a door open for us. Will we have the bus to ourselves? We walk up and find out, nope, we are in a sardine can. the only available seats together are literally in the back by the bathroom and in that row of three the window seat is taken. My knee blocks the bathroom door so any possible sleep is thwarted by folks needing to get in the bathroom door. We have a forty minute layover in a tourist trap mall with a McDonald's in Barstow and drop off people in Victorville, San Bernadino, Riversode, Claremont, El Monte and then finally make it to Union Station. I had thought it wise to not drink my morning coffee in order to be able to better sleep on the bus. With that impossible, I instead got a caffeine migraine that was as terrible a headache as I have had in my life. OH and when all those people are crammed onto the buss, you get the cold air blowing in the uncontrollable seat ventilation system, but so many bodies produce offsetting heat, so you are getting an annoying cool breeze aimed at some part of your cranium while the rest of you is baking and any part of your arms or legs that are touching any other part of you are forming a pool of sweat immediately on contact. Suffice to say, it was fucking brutal coming home. If we do it again it will definitely be researched to plan for optimum low-passenger numbers and for express service. Still, it was $58 apiece round trip, hard to beat... (Comment on this)
Thursday, October 1st, 2009
3:59 am	Top 5 Living Artists So I was about to go to bed and there was an email there from a friend: Dear (everyone)  I'm teaching at the painting department of (blank) college of Art and I would like to give my students a reference list of great contemporary national/international painters. I realized they know modern and older historic painters but have no clue about what's going on today. Please send me your top 5 list and a very short/brief explanation why. I will not give out your names, this is merely (blah blah blah opportunity blah blah blah broaden perspective blah blah blah) So after a full day and without thinking I whipped this out, if I did it at another time tomorrow it would be a different list, etc DUDE: you can give out my name, i am not a pussy about how i feel. TOP PAINTERS ALIVE TODAY: KIM DINGLE Her American feminist painting thickly renders girls as aggressors and heroes. ROBERT WILLIAMS The founder of Juxtapoze magazine singlehandedly elevated comics to high art. GRONK His Chicano romantic expressionism in the 80s has evolved into a post-graffiti abstraction. LLYN FOULKES At 74 his painting is still critiquing the unfairness of life with an inventive genius. CECILLY BROWN She is the only real painter of importance that Gagosian represents. And if you are reading this, of course you are #6 (Comment on this)
Friday, August 28th, 2009
1:36 am	Politics I avoid discussing politics in general. I don't have a core belief. I am a registered Democrat but that is really a reaction against the extremes of the other side, I could care less most days. I was inspired by Obama and still hold out hope, but i have a libertarian impulse that gets a little ill thinking that my whole life is going to spent at the fucking DMV version of health or registering to walk down the street or of this or of that or whatever. But I said something nasty about Ted Kennedy on my FaceBook page and ten people dumped me as a friend. I have over 1000 friends - most of whom, yeah, I have never met, they are not REALLY my friends but I promote my writing and publishing and curating on FaceBook pretty successfully. I kinda don't care, but it made me realize that people take politics seriously ... it supplants the religious urge in people. People treat politics like sports. Democrats are your team and you root for them regardless of whether they are correct becasue, hey, go team. Well, I am spiritually satisfied and I have a blind passion for one sports team, so politics lately has sickened me, really, as there is NO discourse , just shouting and tarring and feathering and genuflecting for your team and howling in rage against their team. Ted Kennedy was not a nice man except when satisfied by his hold on power. Ick. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, July 1st, 2009
3:27 pm	Dean Valentin Slams MOCA - w/ Update UPDATE: In case former MOCA-trustee and L.A. contemporary art uber-collector Dean Valentine is not your FaceBook friend, check out what he just posted on FB: "Dean Valentine believes MOCA should have more respect for the truth. Phony PR and fake fund-raising numbers are not the way to a healthy museum." When asked by his FaceBook friends for more details, Mr. Valentine responded: "Because when you scrape away all the PR bull, the operating budget--which is the only one that counts--still has an $8 to $10m hole that has to be refilled yearly." (Comment on this)
Wednesday, June 17th, 2009
1:52 am	New Coagula Issue featuring FINISHING SCHOOL Free! The New Issue of Coagula Art Journal is available right now at COAGULA.NET as a Free Downloadable PDF and is also for sale as a color glossy book from a PRINT ON DEMAND site. Issue #98 features a cover story interview with FINISHING SCHOOL, and artist's collective that takes activism and aesthetics to new territory... this time it is the food you eat that is being scrutinized and deconstructed. ALSO... commentary by publisher MAT GLEASON, Art Carer Advice by ALAN BAMBERGER, Prose by columnist GORDY GRUNDY, Poetry by GERALD LOCKLIN and cartoons by JIM CARON... PLUS a report card for recent Bergamot Station Art Exhibits. (Comment on this)
Thursday, June 11th, 2009
12:00 am	LOCALS ONLY The show I curated opens tonight. It was a lot of work but I am quite proud of it. HERE IS A CARD SCANNED The gallery is at the LA MART, it is LOOK GALLERY, free gated parking, 1933 South Broadway, just past Washington in Downtown.  OPening is 6-9 tonight. (Comment on this)
Saturday, May 30th, 2009
11:37 pm	Culver City Artwalk Review We went to the Culver City Artwalk and I was saying yeah that was all so terrible but then I think back to individual shows and it is like, oh yeah, that was good ... oh yeah, that was great... but in the moment, the walking around, the talking to lots of people, the seeing a lot of "product" art that is not bad or offensive but is not good or memorable in any way... there is a burnout. At the core is the fact that it is pretty disrespectful and presumptuous to assume that an artwalk of this kind will deliver a memorable art experience to the viewer. The crowds are just too big and the art scattered among galleries of varying quality. So I hate to just dismiss the whole event with "It Sucked" so I guess I have to say there were good moments and some great pieces scattered about but ultimately it made me miss the ability to get intimate with an artwork and let it take over, comfortably and with no distractions. And that sucks. There is a group show at Koplin Del rio. That is the best thing I saw today. The theme is billboards as inescapable component of landscape. It was an awesome show. If you like Coop, his show at Corey Helford was overwhelming (in a good way). There were other moments out there in Culver City. I go mostly just because I know i will bump into people that I have not seen in a while. This was the case again. Long live Culver City, popular capital of the Los Angeles Art World. The photo is of COOP eating Thai Food in the office at the Corey Helford Gallery while three gallery employees ran around writing invoices for the sales of his work. Coop cleaned up at the Art Walk! (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, May 27th, 2009
12:51 am	Tightrope of tacky So what really makes the art world go around is the use of the absence of marketing as marketing. Every dealer is cooler than the next or the previous, all pretending to be oblivious o wanting (or most terribly, needing) a sale of an artwork. The discussion of the market, the rice, the dollars is considered to be so gauche. Funny how the echelons of art commerce epicenters are quite similar to academic departments that convince art students to make art that has no value as a sellable object. I wrote THIS ARTICLE about it (even thought they spelled my name wrong). Anyway, back to the art market... Those price lists, they are inflated. Because when someone is truly interested in the artwork and they are spending as much as one might on a  Mercedes, they are haggling with a ferocity usually reserved for the wrestling arenas of capitalism. I am curating a show with a lot of work for sale and a few pieces will be borrowed from collectors, not for sale, and yet... when I look at these artworks, they are pretty awesome, I can't help but think that everything has a price. Maybe when it is not for sale it is at its most attractive. Does one walk the tightrope of tacky in order to not appear to be doing exactly what one is doing? In a world with so many readily-replaceable art objects, apparently one does... (Comment on this)
Tuesday, May 26th, 2009
1:45 am	MY TAKE: The Dalai Lama's 18 Rules For Living Someone posted this list on their livejournal and I REALLY read it and started to think... there is NO Way the Dalai Lama would say these things... Would he? Well, I had my say... 1. Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk. But we talk ourselves into superficial relationships and the illusion of accomplishment out of a fear of that risk kicking us in the ass. 2. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson. That lesson being that an ass-kicking is not fun, so next time go straight for an attempt to gouge out your enemy's eyeballs. 3. Follow the three Rs: 1. Respect for self 2. Respect for others 3. Responsibility for all your actions. How the fuck did the Dalai Lama translate Tibetan into English and still maintain the consonant consistency? Was this even originally written in a phonetic alphabet? I'm not buying it. 4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck. I too have found out that most hot chicks are high-maintenance. I wonder if the Dalai Lama and I internet dated from the same pool of L.A. actresses back in 99/00. 5. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly. This definitely stopped sounding like the Dalai Lama a few numbers ago, but now it is sounding less and less like a Tibetan Buddhist. What is this, Mister Rogers for Anarchists? 6. Don’t let a little dispute injure a great friendship. Hallmark Cards goes to Tibet for Nine bitchen' words! 7. When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it. How many people really do this, though? When you lose a hundred bucks in Vegas, the smart thing to do is walk away from the table, but the Dalai Lama would push you back with this rule and say "Correct it. Bet $200." 8. Spend some time alone every day. Sure, that sounds like the Dalai Lama, but do you think this makes his Top 18? He takes it for granted that when he says "Get the fuck out of my room" that everyone else on Earth has the sense of mind to tell the nincompoops in their world to get the fuck out of their rooms... 9. Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values. Oops, i dropped my values, and seeing as they were hollow and fragile anyway, they have shattered completely, so in the midst of all this change, I am going to forge your signature on this power of attorney claim and siphon your bank account. The Dalai Lama didn't say anything about values that don't bounce back when they slip out of your hand... 10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer. Einstein said this and the Dalai Lama would probably say that chuckling like a spider monkey until everyone nods along is better than silence. 11. Live a good, honourable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll be able to enjoy it a second time. The Dalai Lama spells like a Brit? Next thing you will tell us is that he had an affair with Elizabeth II. 12. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life. Sounds like the Dalai Lama gave Pat Robertson's failed 1980s presidential campaign a donation or two... 13. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past. I always had trouble telling Dear Abby and Ann Landers apart... but this has got to be one of theirs, the Dalai Lama isn't going to talk about the weather with Hu Jintao. 14. Share your knowledge. It’s a way to achieve immortality. This has self-impressed athiest Eurotard written all over it. 15. Be gentle with the earth. Oh crap, everyone is on the green bandwagon... let  me see, displace the native Tibetan population with a million Han Chinese, but throw in a solar panel on the roof at the Lhasa City Hall and we will call it even. 16. Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before. The Dalai Lama successfully used this line on Julia Roberts, Princess Di and a couple hundred other hotties over the years. 17. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other. And who needs a quest for spiritual peace when codependency jargon fills the lecture halls. 18. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it. I had to give up being executed by Maoist thugs in order to drink champagne with Madonna in her prime. If that does not just stink of success, what does, baby? (Comment on this)