Loved TRAC 2014

Three fold larger than the first conference.

Coming to the TRAC conference I was expecting something quaint, small, and struggling to get established.  This is only the second TRAC conference ever, and to my very big surprise there were hundreds and hundreds of not only artists, but also art historians, museum directors, and countless others in the art industry. The programming was full of variety and substance.

RogerScruton photo by Mark Vallens

RogerScruton is a British philosopher and the host of the BBC documentary ” Why Beauty Matters.” Scruton argues that “fake ideas and fake emotions have banished beauty from High Culture.”  I am so glad I got up early for this lecture because it was my very favorite part of the conference.  He was so interesting, hilarious and amazing.  He said all the things that I think in my head and never really say out loud. After hearing him speak, I have to admit I got a little grandfatherly crush on him.  I sometimes worry some of us in the representational art movement try to dictate what the meaning of beauty is, which is exactly what the post modern movement has done to us.  There is room for both schools of thought.

Jeremy Lipking giving a demo at TRAC2014.

After Roger’s talk, I chose from the many papers a presentation by Greg Crockett called “Follow the Money.”  It was an interesting lecture, but its dogmatic stance in support of representational art and against post-modern art, created some waves in the audience. (Graydon Parish, who happened to be in the audience, made the same point I did:  that there is room for both movements.)  Though a little offensive, Crockett had some good ideas, especially about marketing.  I particularly liked his remark that while the post-modern movement claims to be the new cutting edge art, the fact that it has been in power for the last 50 years makes it really “Establishment Art.”  How great is this?!?!  I love the term Establishment Art.  It’s so true, too.

Sadie Valeri and Peter Trippi loving this conference.

Even though this conference was much more academic, by far, than any of the other conferences I have been to, it was still a lot of fun. Oh, did I mention the conference hotel is right on the beach?

view from our hotel

And another really nice thing is most of the meals are included in the package. The only bad food was the gala dinner, which I could not make myself eat, so I hit the vending machines for a nutritious meal of Cheetos and a snicker bar. Despite the food, the dinner was memorable for the sweet impromptu toast given by Tony Pro thanking the organizers, Michael Pearce and Michael Lynn Adams, for all their hard work in making the conference happen. My only other disappointment was there was no band or music of any kind, and so no dancing!  But, I have to say, I really loved TRAC2014 and so did everyone else!  Great job Michael!!

Neon lights disco limo took us to the next museum outing. I’m so bad with names. The guy on the left is a super talented artist (I can’t remember his name. and has a Super nice wife) Anyone know his name? with cruising Michael Zakian.

Me with a new friend and fellow artist Martin Bruinsma.