SUCCESS in LA is nothing more than a popularity game.

....For creative people. Just think...in order to get anything done or out there, you have to convince someone who has the means of making it possible for you. Getting a book published, having a successful(as in actually making $) Art Gallery show, having a popular/busy nightclub, getting a film made, etc. the list goes on and on and can be applied to many applications. The only way to convince these people that what they are capitalizing on their investment is by being known, popular and having 'clout', achieved by going to tons of parties and getting people to know you and like you or at least think that you're cool. Everyone in this town is on a quest to be 'cool', to be 'popular' to be 'known'. As long as you have an army behind you, then you are Golden. However, this army can be comprised of just about 'anyone' that goes out or wants to be seen; any loser who just wants to belong or be part of a larger group, not necessarily smart or having individual thought. In reality, this then negates any credibility in the main person that has the army, since their soldiers are a reflection of them. But nobody ever sees it like that. This is what people are missing, this is what everyone forgets. Its not how popular you are that counts, its the quality of your army that is important, not the size of it. People in this town always seem to forget that...

WHO CARES ABOUT POP ART, come up with something new and different already....

It seems that everywhere you look these days, in the art world, everyone who is trying to be 'cool' and 'in the now' and 'trendy' and 'accepted' is basing their art on the foundation of 60s POP Art. Most young artists paint/draw/create 'characters' or 'Icons' that are easily recognizable. Cartoon art. Graphic art. Fucken T-SHIRT ART, for christ sake. I say, get over it. It was cool back in the 60s when Warhol and Lichtenstein, etc, created it. But now it comes off as you people just being LAZY. Thinking that you can just jump on the bandwagon and make up some dumb character or some hip/trendy graphic image/icon and put it on T-Shirts and that you're an artist. Call yourself what you will, but don't forget about the rest of us who just see you as pathetic talentless hacks, trying to fit in. Go have your 'Gallery Show' at some trendy bar or club and just see who of credibility, reverence and importance shows up. It may be packed, but its not the size of your army, it's the people in it. Try working with Oils, a palette knife and a live model. That takes effort, time and talent. It's not art if you can make it by pressing a button(sorry Warhol, although you would have loved this concept, it's the young trendsters that have now ruined all your original thoughts and ideas). I hope I have insulted everyone who's young and thinks they're gonna be the next Shep. And I don't care in the least if no one ever reads this.