{"id":5546,"date":"2011-11-14T12:00:11","date_gmt":"2011-11-14T19:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/?p=5546"},"modified":"2012-02-06T14:18:26","modified_gmt":"2012-02-06T21:18:26","slug":"i-hate-dolphins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/2011\/11\/14\/i-hate-dolphins\/","title":{"rendered":"I HATE DOLPHINS"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reviewer Magazine’s new Art Editor wants to reform San Diego’s dolphin-friendly image.<\/h3>\n

By Katherine Sweetman, Art Editor<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"
photo by Michelle Bassler<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Specifically, I hate dolphins that live on brightly colored canvases in the storefronts of local “art galleries.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

On occasion, the sight of these painted porpoises can drive me to fits of such feverish rage that I’m tempted to punch an unsuspecting dolphin in its smiling, half-opened mouth.\u00a0This is just one of the many reasons I have to avoid certain La Jolla and Downtown art-selling venues. I’ve also been asked to leave more than a few of these locations due to my uncontrollable need to question the sales associates on the topic of “what constitutes art.”<\/p>\n

I will admit that my particular breed of dolphin-art-induced-hostility may stem from a conversation I had with a pretentious New York-based artist one evening, just before I moved here.<\/p>\n

“What would an artist DO in San Diego?” he asked, but he didn’t give me time to answer.<\/p>\n

“Paint dolphins!?” he yelled, and then he laughed so wildly that everyone in the room had to turn and stare.<\/p>\n

Contemplating this, I imagined a group of San Diegans gathered around a Sea World tank painting dolphin still-life portraits. Perhaps, inspired by Yves Klein<\/a>, they could dip the dolphins in paint and roll them around on the canvas. The truth was, at the time, I didn\u2019t know what artists would do in San Diego either.<\/p>\n

Now, after ten years of working with and studying local artists, I contend that our artists create work that\u2019s on par with art done anywhere in the world. We make irreverent, inquisitive, documentary, activist, playful, visionary, sometimes difficult or haunting, and frequently awe-inspiring work here. Immensely talented artists chose to live in San Diego, effectively debunking the myth that good art comes from the “tortured artist” living the hard-scrabble life in gritty inner cities.\u00a0\u00a0Life here is pretty good; the climate, the sea and the relaxed atmosphere all make for a tempting place to set-up shop and\u00a0many artists remain here in spite of the fact that we lack the press coverage, donors, subsidies, patrons and nurturing culture of our more art-friendly neighbors up north (Los Angeles and San Francisco).\u00a0Sadly, San Diego isn’t known for placing much value on the contemporary visual arts, but that CAN still be changed.<\/p>\n

Local arts writers have always been challenged to go out and find the key players and important characters who make challenging – even disquieting – art, and that is the particular kind of work in which I am personally invested. I don’t much care for abstract painting, landscape photography, artists who don’t have a purpose, or artists whose intent is aimed solely at the marketable prospects of the work (for example, most dolphin art).<\/p>\n

Adjusting the outsiders’ perception of San Diego Arts is up to all of us. We all need to track down significant artists, talk about their work, buy their work, publicize their work, and help bring them to the consciousness of new, larger audiences. We should seek out the artists who make smart work, who push the boundaries of what “art” can be, and who conceive of artworks and projects that can change the rules of the game. I intend to showcase talented, provocative, meaningful, and thoughtful local visual artists — to ignite a wider discussion of the complex and stunning work that happens here.<\/p>\n

When people across the country or across the world think of San Diego, I don’t want them to think about dolphins. Do you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reviewer Magazine’s new Art Editor wants to reform San Diego’s dolphin-friendly image. By Katherine Sweetman, Art Editor Tweet Specifically, I hate dolphins that live on brightly colored canvases in the storefronts of local “art galleries.” On occasion, the sight of these painted porpoises can drive me to fits of such feverish rage that I’m tempted to punch an unsuspecting dolphin […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[574],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7366,"url":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/2012\/10\/17\/killer-trained-dolphins\/","url_meta":{"origin":5546,"position":0},"title":"U.S. Marine Mammal Program","author":"Reviewer Rob","date":"October 17, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"U.S. Government Issue DolphinsCetacea For Elite Reconnaissance And More!Tweet Observation by Lev Six Largely, using dolphins for military purposes is no secret. The U.S. Navy trains dolphins to hunt mines, and tests several dolphin-based systems designed to stop enemy divers from infiltrating harbors. The Soviet Union had a dolphin program\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "news commentary"","block_context":{"text":"news commentary","link":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/category\/news-commentary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/dolphin-300x199.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6447,"url":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/2012\/03\/16\/a-sculptural-lighting-collection-interview-with-artists-rachel-eva-and-shawn-michael\/","url_meta":{"origin":5546,"position":1},"title":"A Sculptural Lighting Collection: Interview with artists Rachel Eva and Shawn Michael","author":"admin","date":"March 16, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"By Katherine Sweetman Tweet Interview with artists Rachel Eva and Shawn Michael: K.S.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Tell me about this new collection of work-- your \"Sculptural Lighting\" collection. What brought the both of you, who are artists in many different mediums, to focus your energy toward this very specific kind of work? R.E.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "art"","block_context":{"text":"art","link":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/ShawnRachelIndustryNature.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10359,"url":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/2014\/08\/01\/boston-proto-crustpunks-in-the-late-1980s\/","url_meta":{"origin":5546,"position":2},"title":"Boston Proto-Crust Punks in the Late-1980’s","author":"Reviewer Rob","date":"August 1, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The Kids At The Squatthe photos of Mikey Mayhem, NSFW Press Editor's note: I first became aware of Mikey Mayhem's photojournalism through the message board, now defunct, at Supercult.com, the seminal website of Chase Lisbon. Mikey was part of the whole \"CFFC\" art-posse there. ~Rob \"Last two from Boston summer\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "art"","block_context":{"text":"art","link":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Mikey Mayhem today. Click to see more of him if you dare or go to his page at nsfwpress.tumblr.com.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/mikey-mayhem-today-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5590,"url":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/2011\/11\/16\/new-talent-at-reviewer-magazine\/","url_meta":{"origin":5546,"position":3},"title":"Contributing Art Editor, Katherine Sweetman","author":"admin","date":"November 16, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"[Announcement]Introducing The New Reviewer Magazine Contributing Art Editor, Katherine SweetmanTweet Reviewer Magazine welcomes the smart and savvy writer, artist and filmmaker, Katherine Sweetman as the new Arts editor. Katherine's intriguing list of accomplishments include; directing 3D Reality TV shows on such provocative topics as strippers and amateur cage fighters; running\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "update"","block_context":{"text":"update","link":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/category\/update\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/kath-headshot-300x228.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12696,"url":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/2015\/11\/21\/california-institute-of-abnormalarts\/","url_meta":{"origin":5546,"position":4},"title":"California Institute of Abnormalarts","author":"Reviewer Rob","date":"November 21, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The California Institute of Abnormalarts in Burbank by Reviewer Rob Here's some pics from Friday the thirteenth at California Institute of Abnormalarts in Burbank, from the first visit I had there. Radio Relay League and True Violet were the bands this night. I had been meaning to get in those\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "archive"","block_context":{"text":"archive","link":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/category\/archive\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"One of the many surreal attractions at the California Institute of Abnormalarts: according to Carl Crew I think he said it's a mummy embalmed with murcury from the Chinatown district of San Francisco. ~caption and photo by Reviewer Rob.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/web-murcury-mummy.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/web-murcury-mummy.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/web-murcury-mummy.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/web-murcury-mummy.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/web-murcury-mummy.jpg?resize=1050%2C600 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/web-murcury-mummy.jpg?resize=1400%2C800 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":15372,"url":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/2018\/07\/19\/basement-art-studio-photo-shoot\/","url_meta":{"origin":5546,"position":5},"title":"Basement Art Studio Photo Shoot","author":"Reviewer Rob","date":"July 19, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"[Members Video] With Katlyn Reviewer Rob There's a couple of Members videos (two of them) that we shot while doing the photos with art model Katlyn in Seattle last week. They're HERE. If you're not yet a member you can join on for a small monthly fee on this page.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "archive"","block_context":{"text":"archive","link":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/category\/archive\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5546"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5546\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6230,"href":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5546\/revisions\/6230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}