By way of introduction, I’d like to start by coming clean. I’ve never written a blog before. In fact, I haven’t written much of anything since I graduated college, with the exception of an obscene amount of daily emails and instant messages. If we’re really being honest, I’m here out of sheer nepotism on the part of the founder of this website, one Mr. Matthew Mancinelli, who I’ve had the pleasure (and occasional aggravation) of knowing for over a decade. Having grown as close as we have over the years, Matt has begun to harbour the delusion that I have legitimate and intelligently formulated opinions on things like art, music and film. In this space, I’ll be tackling the former two topics as well as probably ranting from time to time about semi-related points. I say semi-related because I have a tendency toward free-associative thinking which can lead to somewhat expansive tangents. I will do my best to reign that in, but make no promises at this juncture. On that note, let’s begin, shall we?

The daughter of an illustrator/graphic designer, my rebellion was to insist that I had no artistic ability whatsoever. But if there’s one thing I’ve always openly loved, it’s talking about art. My favourite class days in college were ones that contained any kind of critique. I myself am a painter but didn’t actually pick up a brush until I took my required studio courses, starting only about 3 years ago. (Much to my mother’s bemused satisfaction.) As much as I surprised myself by finding the process soothing and helpfully expressive, I had the opposite reaction about critiquing. An excitement overtook me, that I’d finally have an outlet for all of my useless opinions. It turns out that they weren’t as useless as I may have suspected, given that those critiques made the difference between straight As in my studio classes and straight Bs, as my work continually suggested I deserved.

My personal tastes run the gamut but nothing speaks to me quite like modern and pop art. If you do not know Lichtenstein, as I would hope you would if you’re reading an art blog, please leave the page now and google image his work. When you have brushed up on his portfolio, you may return and I will welcome you with open arms. (Seriously, go…SCAT!)

Since this isn’t just my blog, but the website’s, I’ll obviously be dealing with much more than just modern artwork. Matt has asked me to pick pieces on the site to discuss and I’m inviting you into the conversation. As always, art is subjective and the goal of this blog is to hopefully bring people together in a polite, logical and emotive analysis of the work we’re currently canvassing, as well as of the artists we’re promoting. This post has been far more long-winded than I and I’m certain you the reader, would have liked, so I think I’ll let us both off the hook for now. If you’ve made it this far, thanks for your follow through! I’ll be checking in daily, so introduce yourself and let’s start a dialogue.

Yours in nerdy, artistic solidarity…..Ris*

Marisa Young