Michelle Handelman Part 1

I recently met a fascinating installation, performance, video artist named Michelle Handelman. Our meeting is in the following Vlog below. I love these visits with artists because I think the visual arts are probably the least understood of all the arts because it’s so hard to access both physically and intellectually. Visual art unlike music can’t be downloaded off of itunes, or bought for under 20 bucks in a bookstore. Fine art is regulated to institutions, which many of us cannot easily get to let alone purchase.

I also believe fine art is really hard to understand. Art doesn’t come with instructions and art history and criticism is written by individuals who don’t create it. We are programmed to believe that superstars like Picasso, Pollack and Warhol are great artists. But how much of their art really moves us? Art should turn us on in the same way we fall in love. There is something about that certain someone that you just can’t get off your mind even if it is against your better judgment. Art should be like that; we are compelled by a completely subjective impulse.

My visit with Michelle took place as she was working on a multi-media adaptation of Oscar Wilde's "The Picture of Dorian Gray." It was a fun and totally stimulating visit as she walked through her creative process in its different stages and manifestations. She describes the aesthetic experience as “a state of beautiful confusion.” What a great quote. I think this pretty much captures the experience of art… or falling in love for that matter