The Humor in Every Day

I don’t read the advertising periodicals any longer. They’ve been replaced by books, magazines and videos devoted to oil painting. However, the basic principles of advertising are still etched in my memory. For instance, if you’re trying to sell to a certain group of women, you find out their age range. Then subtract that range to find out when these ladies were teens. Next, you uncover what were the big hits in that age group. And presto, you have the music synced up with some of the happiest moments of their life. It cuts through all the logical, mental barriers straight to pure feelings. You sell to the heart not the brain. And then watch market share skyrocket.

What I miss most about my days in advertising is the camaraderie of kindred spirits. At that time, I had never really thought too much about impacting the world or leaving some kind of legacy. When I started to get serious about my work, it seemed fine art had become way too serious and dark. I'm happy to live in a corner of the art world where art is fun, original, and even might warrant a laugh out of the right audience.

I’m an optimist. I put Chaplin, Sid Caesar, Steve Martin and Seinfeld in the pantheon of genius comics. But what if those fellas were also painters? Would museums be filled with more peculiar pop art? Maybe wall-to-wall canvases of cartoonish characters? Doodled depictions of dogs? That’s what I’m after: The humor of the everyday. Not always easy to see, but worth seeking out? Absolutely. I think it's where the truth reveals itself.