In the mid- to late '60s to the mid-'70s, when I was a student, there was a major change in the thinking about what art can be and how art is made.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
The art market was very different before the mid-1980s: then, art was all about passion, whereas now it's become a commodity.
During the '70s I was interested in words and meaning as a way of making art.
Art is the means by which we communicate what it feels like to be alive - in the past, that was mixed up with other illustrative duties, but that was still its central function that has been liberated in the art called modern.
When art has changed, it's because the world was changing.
Art has absolutely changed my life.
Things like anatomy and drawing and design and color had pretty much been drop-kicked out of the curriculum in the '70s, when I was studying art, in favor of abstraction and minimalism.
I grew up thinking art was pictures until I got into music and found I was an artist and didn't paint.
Art-making was part of my daily life from a very young age, and I still love that kind of everyday art-making.
My own interest in art was because of my mother. My father didn't like contemporary art, so he didn't give her large sums to spend. So, she began buying prints and drawings. During my school days, I remember sitting in on many of the early meetings.
I was a fine arts major in college, and a painter for many years. And I found that, like writing, art is very similar.