A Quote by Michael Dumontier

In art school, I started to see Pettibon in magazines, and I figured it out backward. I was into the idea that someone could show work in galleries while making album covers and photocopied books.
Never did much art till I was in my 30s, except for painting video sets, designing record covers and T-shirts, and making zines and stuff. I thought I was too punk for art and felt grossed out by white-room galleries and art people.
I went out into the world when I was about 22. I wrote books and I illustrated books and did book covers, and I taught tap-dancing, and I was a model in the art school. I had no ability for any of those things, but what else could I do?
I never really took a proper art class in college. I just started reading art magazines and going to galleries.
While it may be a really trying, weird time for the art world, I see good work all the time. If you just go around to that many galleries, and if you stay open, you're going to see work with enough energy and surprise. I don't think I've ever gone to the galleries without coming home thinking, Gee, I now know something I didn't know this morning.
I never really took a proper art class in college. I just started reading art magazines and going to galleries. I was really drawn to it.
As far as my opinion on galleries, I think they are a great thing. I see them as another outlet. I'm sure by now you've figured out that I do my work for everybody to see. That's the whole point.
The idea that I am cynical because I'm writing the books that I write is a bit like someone saying, 'What, you've done a second album? Oh, I see, cashing in on your first album, are you?' But I'm a musician! It's sort of what I do.
Just as the development of earth art and installation art stemmed from the idea of taking art out of the galleries, the basis of my involvement with public art is a continuation of wall drawings.
I'm a contemporary artist and I show in art galleries and museums. I show a number of photographs and films, but I also make television programs, books and some appetizing, all with the same concept.
Gather knowledge... Visit galleries, museums, art and craft fairs... Read books and magazines. Take workshops. Use your senses. Experience stimulates your memory and imagination.
Early in my publishing career, someone told me I'd need to have five books in print before I could quit my job as a journalist. Turns out it was closer to 10 books. It also turns out that while it's great to see my titles on bookstore shelves, my best customers are schools and libraries.
When I started out in the industry, I turned to magazines like 'Flex' and 'Muscle & Fitness' - the people on their covers were my inspiration.
I never had money for anything. But I tell you what did really work - books. Between the covers of those books I could go anyplace, I could be anybody, I could do anything.
There was a kind of cultural life in New York that wasn't as solidified as it is now, it wasn't as money-driven. If you look at the size of the successful art galleries compared to the size of galleries now - there was no such thing as the Gagosian Gallery or Pace Gallery. But it was a time when magazines were a vital part of American life, and Esquire gave me a free pass to every world - I could get to the art world, the theater world, the movie world. It allowed you to roam through the cultural life of New York City.
I grew up in a very musical household. My brother had KISS and Van Halen records, but my parents loved country and show tunes, so I had all of those records when a kid. I pretty much knew exactly what I was going to do at a young age. I loved album covers, I loved listening to a record and staring at the art while listening to it. When I got older and discovered paining, drawing and PhotoShop, I was able to do both simultaneously; I enjoy making both.
While I was still going to embrace social media, I knew I had to do things that nobody else was doing. I decided I had to meet as many people as I could - face to face. While most artists would email galleries, I would show up in the lobby. Instead of liking an art show or exhibition, I would go there and meet everyone. And while most would send a magazine a press kit, I go and meet the editor. This notion of face to face contact became my mantra.
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