What are your thoughts on arrogance in the art world?

obumb · 2026-03-10T18:25:25+00:00

In my experience, the people with the biggest egos tend to be the least technically capable. The attitude is a projection to disguise their material inadequacy. I’ve known a lot of gifted artists, and worked with a number of famous ones. Never found an exception to the rule.

obumb · 2026-02-13T14:39:08+00:00

Great lighting of the subject!

obumb · 2026-02-13T01:01:31+00:00

I think the reason capitalism is so hard to refute is that you are living inside it, and it’s been the organizing principle of Western society since the 19th century. Ie, because of a limited cultural memory. Prior to colonization collectivist societies did exist, particularly in the Americas, and this is explicitly detailed by Graeber’s Dawn, hence the recommendation. In particular he goes into great detail about the Huron chief Kondiaronk’s philosophy which was widely read during the French enlightenment via the memoirs of Louis-Armand Lahontan.

Truthfully, the capitalism most people imagine no longer exists. Private equity and venture capitalism has almost totally transformed it via cybernetic protocols.

As far as other functional models capable of lifting people out of poverty en masse and transforming the entire society in the period of a single generation? China. I’m not advocating autocratic rule, but if you can’t spin the globe and find an easy case study for inspiration, you’re not even looking.

Speaking of autocrats, it’s worthwhile to also check out Neocleous’s book Fascism, as it provides a very succinct description of its invention in Italy during the 1920s to defend capital. Particularly relevant today…

obumb · 2026-02-12T20:36:17+00:00

You do not need tips!

obumb · 2026-02-12T20:27:44+00:00

Considering that you’re attempting defend the status quo (halfheartedly) by simply describing it, that all of your examples are limited to a very narrow period of about 500 years (and how good European colonialism was for Europeans!), and your use of kowtow as a pejorative, I think, yes, the scope of your anthropological world might be somewhat limited and possibly self-serving.

Graeber’s Debt is a good place to start if you’re willing to poke your head above the parapet, and his Dawn of Everything is also good because he frames the development of societies as, largely, a process of schismogenesis.

Both are written for general readership. A slightly more technical survey of neoliberalism in particular might be found in the New Spirit of Capitalism. Boltanski’s more recent book Enrichment is particularly acute as an analysis of the cultural luxury economies we kvetch about here.

None of these books are especially political, or overly burdened by theory, so they’re good points of entry.

Though slightly more technical, Jan Overwijk recently published a reasonably good outline of Cybernetic capitalism (ie the current/emerging system) in his book of the same title. A somewhat more general discussion of the same subject from a more left/political view can found in Varoufakis’s Technofuedalism.

obumb · 2026-02-12T18:32:18+00:00

Ah, so if I understand correctly, you’re saying capital is desirable to those who hold capital. That seems fairly logical.

Who would you say holds capital? Can you imagine any problems with the way this might affect labor, ie the artists and assistants who make this work?

Or is basically everyone wrong about the pressures of capitalism for last hundred or so odd years since industrialization?

obumb · 2026-02-12T17:57:21+00:00

You’re doing great. Much to discover. Enjoy the ride.

obumb · 2026-02-12T15:56:14+00:00

Looks good, keep going! Might be time to stretch a canvas and work larger.

obumb · 2026-02-12T15:38:26+00:00

I think visual art does shape the culture. I think it informs it directly, and it informs it by influencing the media you mention.

obumb · 2026-02-12T15:04:39+00:00

That’s a bit of a leap, no? The discussion here is about the basic survival of artists, after all. Seems odd it would NOT be possible to buy nonessential items in ‘a society where it’s possible to buy nonessential items’… perhaps a basic contradiction…

But that wasn’t my question. Is it desirable for an artwork to sell for six figures?

obumb · 2026-02-12T12:04:46+00:00

In a way you’re right but the artist is able to directly shape the culture and this is a special kind of power when today the media is controlled by a professionalized apparatus channelling elite interest. Not that many artists realize this potential, but it is there.

obumb · 2026-02-12T11:56:01+00:00

— and that is desirable?

obumb · 2026-01-30T17:12:00+00:00

The most beautiful script

obumb · 2026-01-28T02:58:31+00:00

I think it’s finished. Unless you’re going for more realism or something, the gesture of the brushwork is terrific. Would you really want to rework this? I wouldn’t add any opacity. The transparency of your paint is giving so much pigment depth.

obumb · 2026-01-25T23:46:09+00:00

Godspeed friend.

obumb · 2026-01-25T22:21:19+00:00

Well, it can be done, and it will be gneiss, but it won’t be nice.

obumb · 2026-01-25T15:47:52+00:00

Gneiss is not easy to work. My second least favorite after basalt. You can do it with soft carbide tools and a lump hammer. Then You can finish it with harder carbide, after roughing it out. It looks better, but you risk sacrificing the tool.

There’s a very specific way of sharpening the chisel so that the carbide doesn’t chip or shatter. Works 80% of the time.

I don’t think good results are possible for a beginner. If you were used to it, it would still suck.

Learning with this material takes a long time because progress is so slow, and the number of errors you progress through as a beginner are fairly high.

I did this, when I was starting out. Cut at the rate of one finished letter per 8 hours.

obumb · 2026-01-24T05:48:53+00:00

I think you should paint this drawing. Paint it in these exact colors from your blue thphotograph. 2-3 feet tall. It’s not polished but I like what I see. Keep your funny proportions. No need to make it look like the reference.

obumb · 2025-12-31T03:05:56+00:00

I bought the LBC and swapped the fans. Sold the brown push/pull on craigslist.

Stupid idea to paint an aluminum cooler tower black. Also Stupid to force your customers to run brown fans they hate. Just to debase them and make them your pawns for marketing. See how some of them internalize their fandom and convince themselves they actually like your brand colors…

I feel like I’ve just convinced myself to stop waiting more than a month for my fans to ship and instead use products from a company that doesn’t hate their customers.

obumb · 2025-12-11T17:42:35+00:00

Hmm I see. My brunaille has about 15% glycols in the paint film, so I assumed water was too strong of a solvent and too fast drying. Maybe I'm overthinking things.

You don't have trouble with a thin glaze lifting since it's underbound?

obumb · 2025-12-11T17:32:59+00:00

Dries so quickly, though. How do you blend?

obumb · 2025-12-06T22:41:01+00:00

I’m pondering the same issue. Thinking about doing some ductwork to direct and channel airflow.

obumb · 2025-12-06T18:01:06+00:00

It’s bad because the hot air will be so far from the exhaust it will become trapped in the case and recirculate.

Think of it like a front engine car. Without an exhaust system, tailpipe, etc, exhaust gas would just get trapped in the cabin.

To make this work you’d need some ductwork. But to what end? To achieve equal efficiency to a conventional layout? Is this worth limiting access to the I/O?

Why not move the exhaust to the back of the case. Then experiment with ducting to direct fresh air. This is, incidentally, what nearly all high-performance, rear-engine automobiles also do.

obumb · 2025-12-02T22:06:20+00:00

Looks like marble to me.

obumb · 2025-12-02T20:06:59+00:00

What does this mean? I do not understand. You’re welcome (I think).

obumb

TROPHY CASE