A Good Time to Leave Minnesota

It's a good time to leave Minnesota. I don't say this because I didn't like it. I love my 'sota, but I don't think I could stand living there knowing that the three most beloved sports figures in the Twin Cities have left in less than a year.

First it was KG, who is legendary in his own time. You know you're good when you pop up in rapper's lyrics. I once went to a Wolves-Nuggets game back in 2002. Denver had a terrible team and the game was pretty much meaningless. I watched in awe as KG basically destroyed Denver. He never took a night off. He was so hyped, he pretty much supplied all of the electricity for the Target Center. Watching him, I knew I was watching a very special ballplayer, the rare breed of athlete who wears his heart on his sleeve, and plays to his full potential night in, night out. He actually cared about the game. He's a baller for life.

Then the beloved Torii Hunter went to the Angels in the off season. I've seen him stretch a single to a two-bagger, then distract the pitcher enough that he stole third virtually uncontested, because he knew exactly when to steal. He came up clapping his hands and shrugging to the Twins bench, his infectious smile and laugh lighting up the dugout. I'll really miss his media interviews. Now he'll be making $90M. Not bad for a poor kid from an Arkansas ghetto.

And the real reason I'm writing this: Johan Santana signed with the Mets yesterday. He is the best pitcher on the planet. No really, he is. Ask the experts. He is lights-out. And I know that the people of Minnesota loved him there.

It kills me to see these guys in other jerseys. For me, Hunter and Santana will always be Twins, and KG will always be synonymous with Minnesota. There is a black hole in the athletic universe, and it is in Minneapolis. What a wasteland. By the way, Randy Moss will be playing in the Super Bowl. Just to beat the dead horse.

HELGUERA’S INDEX

I read Helguera's Index a couple of months ago in Art On Paper, and I thought it was an interesting piece (especially the statistics about art schools) and wanted to pass it on. You can find it in the July/August 2007 issue. Also, you can download a PDF of it here.

Percentage of people in the art world who think panel discussions are boring: 74
Percentage of people in the art world who believe that contemporary art does not contribute to public political dialogues in a significant way: 79
Average tuition cost for a four-year B.F.A. at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, including living expenses: $162,480
Number of years that it would take to repay a school loan in this amount, including interest, with monthly installments of $350: 44
Estimated percentage of artists who still make art ten years after leaving art school: 10
Estimated percentage of art school graduates who succeed financially: 1
Estimated percentage who also succeed critically: 0.2
2006 sale price of Jasper Johns’ False Start, the highest price ever paid at auction for a living artist’s work: $80 million
Number of people in Burundi who could cover their living costs for one year with this amount: 200,000
Number of New York elected officials who defended The Drawing Center against being ousted from the planned International Freedom Complex after a New York Daily News article stated that the center sponsored “Anti-American art”: 0
Percentage of people in the art world who feel that people in the art world publicly support each other but secretly antagonize each other: 53
Percentage of people in the art world who feel that people are not sincere when they socialize at an art opening: 87
Percentage of those who often pretend they know an artist when they actually don’t for fear of being looked down upon: 50
Number of pages of advertising in the Summer 2007 issue of Artforum: 400
Ratio of advertising to editorial pages: 2.8 to 1
Monthly salary for a curator at the Centro Wilfredo Lam in Havana: $55
“Representation fee” that Agora Gallery in New York charges artists: $3,000
Average amount a performance artist gets paid to perform in the United States: $500
Average amount writer Malcolm Gladwell requests as a speaking fee: $30,000
Fee that the Guggenheim Museum charges to conduct a feasibility study for a Guggenheim in any given city: $1,000,000,000
Commission percentage that Damien Hirst’s Mexican gallery takes from the sale of his works: 5
Estimated number of people working at Jeff Koons’ studio: 50
Total staff at Bronx Museum of the Arts: 30
Number of assistants James Rosenquist hires to help make his paintings: 0
Number of Google hits for the Venice Biennale: 1,200,000
Number of Google hits for the Museum of Bad Art, an online museum: 9,510,100

By Pablo Helguera. Sources: artcritical.com; artnet.com; Bloomberg.com; Ford Foundation museum stats; Hermetic Lounge art world poll, 2004;
New York Times GDP stats; ocregister.com; Saatchi Gallery forum; SAIC’s tuition costs from the institution’s website.

The Urban Forest Project

My buddy Sunshine sent me this link yesterday for the Urban Forest Project.

"Basically, it's sponsored by the AIGA, and in each of the 3 cities they had a contest where all designers and students in that city could submit a design featuring a tree. The tree is a metaphor for sustainability, and whichever designs won, they would print onto huge banners and hang throughout the downtown area to raise awareness about sustainability and reforestation. After the banners were taken down, they sewed them into bags, using old seat belts from cars, and old bicycle tires as the straps and handles."

In short, it's right in my wheelhouse. I'd like to do something like this in Milwaukee.

I also found out that the Urban Forest Project is partly sponsored by Worldstudio Foundation, an awesome nonprofit that offers mentoring programs to underserved youth and scholarships that enable economically disadvantaged students of art, architecture and design to continue their studies.

They believe that creativity is able to affect tremendous social change. And they don't just talk about doing good. They actually do it.

So a big shout-out to Sunshine for sending me the Urban Forest link, because I never would have known about Worldstudio. Information rules.

Alewife Quote of the Day:

"I don't like ladies."

Alewife quote of the day

I think I will start a daily quote post, all featuring actual quotes from my co-worker, who I'll call ALEWIFE JUROR (a half-assed anagram for her name,) just to protect her online identity. Alright, here's day one:

"Well, DON'T steam my thing."

Wanted: Green Workers

The sprouting of green businesses has been growing so fast, there is a shortage of qualified workers. Check out the NPR Story about what companies are facing in terms of filling these positions. Also, I found the Midwest Renewable Energy Association, which has a listing of courses, workshops and certification courses that educate and train the next generation of "green collar" workers.

Barack!

Congratulations to Barack Obama, who won Iowa. You're my hero.

Dinner!!

Um, my guess is that this guy has a DUI.

The Holidaze

I can tell that we're still in the holiday mentality.

An imagined conversation in the cafe at work:

Guy: "What's this?"
Me: "Oranges"
Guy: "Are they made of chocolate?"
Me: "No. They are natural. They came off a tree."
Guy: "Do they have nougat in them?"
Me: "Dude, it's fruit."
Guy: "How about caramel or peanuts?"

Silence.

I go back upstairs.

ShopDropping

During the crazy holiday season, you may have encountered strange things in retail stores. Shopdropping has become a more popular activity in recent years. I remember reading things about it back in '02 and '03, mostly on anti-advertising blogs and in art magazines. It is becoming mainstream.

Shopdropping.net is a great place to learn and share information on this popular form of culture jamming. If you are an artist, this may be an important and useful method of getting your message out there.

Here's a New York Times article about it from Times Daily.com.

It's January 1

Happy New Year! May this year be happy and fruitful.