Q. What are your thoughts on contemporary art?

The soul of art has been kidnapped and is being held for ransom! In
the late 20th Century art became viewed as a commodity. It had a
monetary worth. Less and less value was placed on its worth to
society. Artists like Basquiat and Warhol were able to change art and
society in ways we are just starting to understand. This is potentially
dangerous and unsettling to some. People like to have a preconception of what art is so they give it meaning by asking, “How much is it worth?”  The problem with this compass is that when the material possession of a thing called a piece of art is more important than the subtle ways it works on one society, it is numbed even more than it already is to its own soul.

We have broken the connection between artist/public/society. We need to get back to the artist’s studio, a return to art that identifies with the individual not with what a gallery or collector sees as merely a commercial opportunity. I think there’s a good chance that the
pendulum will swing back. Look at the music industry-we can make
our own records now and reach an audience on the web. Art will go
that way and we will have a new Avant-garde. It has gone so far in the
other direction it has to come back.