I just got this today. Waddaya know? It’s been that long. I guess 10 years something’s gonna’ happen. I think they could have added “and all I got was this crummy sticker” on the bottom. I want a mug. I have a professional account and everything. I pay extra so y’all don’t have to look at advertisements. Or maybe a cap. I’ll take socks.

I think my blog is probably my greatest achievement in life, which is easier to say because I feature all my art here, in which case saying that doesn’t denigrate my art. And, uh, no offense to other artist bloggers or nothin’ but, I may have the most comprehensive art blog of anyone I’ve seen. Let’s not burst my bubble by reminding me I probably haven’t seen 99% of art blogs. Let me have my mugless moment here. And I also just said “most comprehensive” not “bestest”.

I’ve been working on an article all day, which I started yesterday. It’s gonna’ be a good one. I did a bunch of research on shadow banning, and I discovered a lot. I’ll give you a taste now. Twitter says that they don’t shadow ban. Well, the reason they can say this is just that they changed the definition of “shadow ban” to something that they don’t do. It’s like defining beer as a drink made from whale blubber, and then declaring that you don’t drink beer while knocking back a six pack. They secretly demote people and make them more or less invisible, without any notification. They give just enough functionality, and allow just enough interaction, to give the illusion that you are merely super unpopular. But because they don’t 100% ban you without telling you, they don’t call it “shadow banning”. Since they don’t have any word for what they really do, I came up with one for them. I call it “Downsizing”. So, that article is coming out tomorrow.

Meanwhile I’m working on a new art piece that’s #9, and I declare it to be the final piece in my “Misfits of the Metaverse” series. Only planned to do six, but kept adding another. This one’s the Elon Musk edition, so you might wanna’ stop by in a few days to see how that comes out.

Monday I’m getting an eye exam to see about having my cataract removed. I haven’t seen what I’m doing with two eyes for years. Just being able to see what I’m working on with both eyes has been a dream for too long.

Back to my greatest achievement in life. Not only does my blog showcase all my art, and my videos, but so many articles I’ve completely lost track, including a post for virtually every work I’ve made in the last 9 years. Most of those have details, and information about my process or the meaning. I’ve written enough art criticism to easily fill a book or two, plus expounded on political and philosophical ideas.

So, I’m kicking off year 10 in full stride. Ambitious new article and a final piece to a series about to bust through.

Have any of you been around since the very beginning? I got most my early followers when I wrote a piece of criticism about a Barnett Newman sale, and it got Freshly Pressed. If you remember this one from when it first appeared — and didn’t discover it later — you’ve been with me the whoooooooooole time: Buying Barnett Newman’s Art on Faith. You deserve a mug, or a cap, or a sock, a drink made from whale blubber.

Have you been following my blog for more than a year or two? How long?

I hope you’ll be around for my 10th anniversary.

Cheers

33 replies on “9 Years”

  3. Hey! 🎉Congratulations!🎉 9 years! Wasn’t following you then but was here on WP (joined in 2006). Freshly Pressed!! That’s great! Applause, late but sincere: 👏👏👏👏👏

    I just read & tried to comment on that post but it wanted me to sign in & when I didn’t the comment went away. Here it is, just in case:
    “People will fall for nearly anything they can spend a lot of money on.

    I like your soap work!

    And the music references are super: I sat thru too many bizarre performances of “the music of tomorrow” (and watched too many swoony folks waggle fat wallets afterward) to not recognize the same shilling in the visual art biz. Is that too cynical? Oh, well.

    As always, thank you for posting this (even if it was a very long time ago). 😁”

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    1. Hi Robin. It appeared but as from “someone”, not you. Ah, you’re been here even longer than I have. Fantastic. Y’know, I’ve never been “Freshly Pressed” again, no matter what I do. There’s something suspicious about that. But I’ll save that for another time. It’s been great talking to you recently on different platforms.

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  7. Congrats. I sense a chapbook coming on!

    “We don’t shadow ban” sounds suspiciously like “We don’t fund gain-of-function research.” I dunno. Just sayin’.

    Sorry about your cataract. Wonder if the tropical sun was a contributor. Hope the surgery goes well and you see everything twice as clearly (hard as that is to imagine).

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    1. Thanks, Jennifer. Funny you use the “gain-of-function” denial example. Talking about something like that, or sharing anything about it, or following a person who talks about it, is the type of thing that gets one “downsized”. It really looks like shadow-banning is just one of the several powerful tools for “controlling the narrative”. Let me put it this way, it gives Twitter and other platforms enormous power to curate opinion, and the only thing stopping them from using it for those ends is their altruism, incorruptibility, indifference to profit, and otherwise being saints and terrestrial angels. [I may have to put that line in my post.]

      Don’t know if I’ll get the surgery yet. First, I’m just going in for the exam.

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  9. Bravo for reaching this auspicious milestone! I’ve enjoyed reading your essays on the art establishment, especially tirades on Saltz and his ilk. Also, your likes on my blog are encouraging. Here’s a toast (Pinot noir) to a decade more!

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    1. Thanks for the glass of Pinot, Steve. It’s good to hear you enjoyed my dissection of the Saltzy Dog. I enjoy your drawings and paintings of people. Very refreshing!

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  11. Congrats on nine years! 🥳

    Have you considered putting a book or two together of your art or your commentary? Sounds like you have plenty of great material and self publishing is quite easy these days if you don’t mind Amazon.

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    1. Cheers. Yup. You’d think they’d just put the chip in a ring if they didn’t want to make it impossible to take off, y’know, if it was really all about convenience. If we have to make every dystopian sci-fi movie or book into a “How To” manual, I’d rather we worked a bit harder on the Terminator stuff. I think we’re almost there, and at least robots are really bad-ass. Not as much of a fan of just being slowly suffocated by surveillance and power filtering up. I hope we can at least accessorize the chip implants. I want mine to glow different colors like the old-school “mood rings”. 1984 here we come!

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  13. Well heck…I’ve been a WordPress blogger since 2009 and I didn’t even get a crummy sticker! I don’t remember when I first started following you, but it hasn’t been very long ago. Patreon says I made my first contribution in early December 2019. So I guess that’s how long.

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  16. Belated congratulations, Eric, on the anniversary. I am not sure how long I have followed you: maybe 4 years? I always look forward to your articles: smart, incisive and original. I look forward to seeing many more!

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