make art out of it

So, yesterday was one of the best-spent Sundays I've had in a ridiculously long time. It also confirmed for me that the place I live is fucking awesome. My friend Mystima and I went to the EAST East Austin Studio Tour yesterday afternoon, getting free drinks nd rubbing elbows and talking with artists and checking out some pretty fucking amazing stuff. We probably went to twelve or fifteen different areas around the East Side, which is also notorious for being the poor/bohemian district. Lots of warehouses and barred windows and train tracks...definitely sparks the imagination.

What was awesome about this event was that it wasn't just limited to galleries. We're talking about a two-day all-day event, where you go into someone's private studio, have the experience of walking around in their brain, and it manages to eschew the 'opening art walk' feeling of obligation to buy - though that was obviously on the agenda, this event was created for people to meet and connect with artists and try to reach some understanding of what their work is about.

We ended up at the closing reception last night, and what I lovedlovedloved was being at an art event and finding that people were incredibly social, not bitterly pretentious or guarded or nose-in-the-air-to-the-point-of-cross-eyed-ness. I met and talked with loads of people very easily, both artists I had met in the day or other artlovahs.

Though all the fun I had does not make up for shitty short films that are basically designed to be a stupid yet arthouse video for a Modest Mouse song (complete with lyrics at the bottom of the screen(?!)).

I can't believe I managed to write something coherent this early in the am sans coffee, but I am about to rectify my caffeine situation.