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Dear Babs, Certain grants, contests, programs, and such ask me to define myself as an “emerging” or “established” artist. How does one decide which label fits? —Dick in Del Mar Dear Dick, Other fields have terms for newbies. Professional baseball players—and cops—are...
Dear Babs, My spouse stopped making art after getting her BFA in painting 10 years ago and hasn’t touched a brush to canvas in the five years we’ve been married, but the pandemic got her painting again, and I’ve never seen her happier. I know nothing about art, but I...
Dear Babs, Desert X is putting their show on in the Coachella Valley this spring, after art-washing the murderous Saudi Arabian regime with a big outdoor show over there. In case you missed it, Saudi leader MBS had Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi killed and...
Dear Babs, I’m a young artist a few years out of grad school. Recently my dad’s close friend asked if he could buy a painting I made about America’s racist prison industrial complex. In the spirit of transparency, he told me he planned to give it as a gift to an old...
Dear Babs, I’m a high school senior and I was planning on enrolling in college to study art next fall either in Los Angeles or New York City, but Covid has me thinking I might want to take a year off or reconsider college entirely. What should I do? —Nervous in...
Dear Babs, If Trump gets another term in office I think I will leave the US. Where’s the best place to go for an artist who wants to flee America? —Expat Patty Dear Expat Patty, I remember getting a question like this back when Trump first came into office, so it...
Dear Reader, Babs thinks now is the time we ask some important questions: Who are your friends, collaborators and colleagues in the art world? How many are white? How many are Black? How long has this been the case? Who controls the museums, galleries, fairs, auction...
Dear Babs, As an artist practicing social distancing I’ve begun feeling guilty for not doing more with all this new free time. I look on social media and everyone is being so productive, making art, and learning new skills. I’m not making art or much of anything....
Dear Babs, I really liked Hans Haacke’s retrospective at The New Museum, specifically his polls that asked viewers their opinions about current news and events. It’s cool he wants his audience to interact with his art. But it got me thinking, why can’t I contact him...
Dear Babs, I’m in college majoring in illustration and minoring in fine art. My problem is some of my fine-art professors put down illustration and make it seem I can’t be part of the “Art World” and still be an illustrator. What do I do? —Stymied Student Dear Stymied...
DEAR BABS: "I’ve been an artist for a long time and I want to get rid of my old art. I don’t want it anymore and I don’t want to try and sell it, but I feel bad just throwing it in the dumpster. What’s the best way to get rid of my art?” Bernard, Los Angeles Dear...
DEAR BABS: If an artist wants to make a work of art, say put something up in public, or appropriate an image, or orchestrate a prank, or just... ya know... do something that’s likely to draw attention from the police, what should they do if they need legal advice?...
Just One Word: PLASTICS DEAR BABS: I am really feeling the lack of creativity in my current occupation as a therapy/social worker, and am seeking to return to my passions and study either art history, curation, or some combination of the two in graduate school, which...
WHITE MALES NEED NOT APPLY Dear Babs, I am a Latina lesbian. My friend is a straight white male. What are the chances that either one of us will have our art judged on its own merits, which is all either of us wants? Would you suggest we show our art anonymously or...
Dear Babs, Although I’ve long been an admirer of art, it occurred to me only recently, now that I have a meager disposable income, that I might start purchasing pieces of my own. But the prospect of starting my own collection is seriously intimidating. I recently...
FREE FOR NOTHING DEAR BABS: I am writing to you because I’m outraged at the $25 ticket price for the Jasper Johns show currently at the “free” Broad museum. That is not even close to free, and with the exclusive exhibition sponsor Louis Vuitton, why is the ticket...
CHOOSE ME DEAR BABS: How do I get a studio visit with the curators of Made in L.A. [The Hammer Museum biennial]? None of my artist friends know how to get works considered for the biennial. I wish there was more transparency in terms of how they survey the emerging...
DIFFICULT SUBJECT MATTER DEAR BABS: In my art practice, I gravitate toward using ephemeral media and creating installations. Sometimes my work deals with “difficult” subject matter. Do most gallery owners steer clear of those qualities in art because it is challenging...
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