Monday, September 3, 2012

Menace to Society

photo courtesy of john clayton
 
here i am accused of being a menace to society as i paint provincetown, cape cod, a city where nothing is a crime, except painting on the streets apparantly. no, really the cop was called and he responded but told me that i wasnt breaking the law, and could proceed with my painting. all the while john c. is snapping cell phone pix and snickering at me!
 
it all started with a man complaining and cursing, that i was too close to his fence and to leave my spot, which happened to be on public property, to which i less than politely declined to do. enter the law, who responded twice asking for my i.d. and asking me a bunch of questions. luckily the motorbike cop was originally from alabama and hadnt heard a southern accent like mine (and his) in ptown in ages, so he didnt hassle me any further and i finished the painting.
 
my current crime spree is in Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island Maine, enjoying my intimate class of 5 students as we menaced the island with brushes and paints on day one of a five day workshop for Acadia Workshop Center.

9 comments:

Michael Chesley Johnson, Artist / Writer said...

Be careful out there, Mike! :)

Laurel Daniel said...

too funny! glad you got to finish the painting!

Chris Gillis said...

Hahaha Mike - its a sign of the times down here on the Cape. There's more and more rich a**holes roaming around thinking they own the place b/c they have some money.

I was painting on Friday in Chatham and I saw a great composition on someone's property and ask the older women across the way if she minded if I painted the scene across the street......She said "I don't who would stop an artist from painting anywhere on the Cape" but she's from that older generation that has grown up with artists darting the streets of the towns here.

So there's still cool old people down here but as the gap widens you will have more and more of these losers with no sense of what this place is about.

Good luck up in ME and shoot me an email when you are back.

Marla said...

Well Mike, you are kind of suspicious looking :-) I'd probably call the cops on you too LOL!

DGehman said...

You're saying more than you think... "menace to society" -- art is menacing to many in the world out there.

Partly this is because artists were very, very successful in creating obscure, clique-ish stuff across the 20th C. Stuff that ordinary people can're relate to.

Partly it's because art in US schools is jettisoned whenever money gets tight -- because it's considered non-essential.

In fact, art is essential. It brings balance to emotional life. Spiritual life. Whatever you want to call it.

If you have no emotional balance and no knowledge of artistic process, you fear the unknown (for example, the making of art), and you lash out at people you fear.

And you call the cops. Good luck to your householder -- he has moved into an art colony. He's going to have to buy a second battery for his cell phone, to cover all the calls to the cops...

Anonymous said...

Hi-I follow you on Daily Painters. I paint in Alamosa, CO. & our art class was painting on the sidewalk in our town & a shop owner complained to us & wanted us to leave. He said we were blocking the way to his antique shop. No one entered the entire time we were there & we were NOT blocking, as we were down the way on the sidewalk. Later he sent his grandson out to talk to us (age 7) & we encouraged him to paint & draw, which he did. Not sure what the problem was but we made friends by the end of the day.
Keep up your good work!
Carol Watson

jimmy craig womble said...

What do you expect when you look like a dirty hippie!:) Have fun up there, give me a shout when you can. Heading to France in a few weeks, and think I'll get a trim to lessen my chances of a cavity search. Jimmy Craig

Marla said...

^ LOL Jimmy! That's what I'm saying!

Unknown said...

What a horses arse!....been busted many times (political activism)..never while plain- air painting...sorry to hear that...I like that one of the single shack a few back from your cop blog....needs more detail, and I hope you can do a large version - maybe 3 by4, with alot of those weeds and shapes picked out in your wonderful clean style