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Lorna Mills and Sally McKay
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The latest Instant Coffee bulletin has a small rant about Les King. If you ever go out on Queen St. in Toronto you know the guy. He is an artist who sells his work on the street with the line, "Would you like to buy an original drawing?" Here's the Instant Coffee post, and a response from my friend Von Bark who has probably purchased more of Les King's drawings than any one else I know.
Instant Coffee: We ventured out for the first time in a while into the Toronto gallery world. At an opening we witnessed exactly what makes an "Outsider Artist" actually an outsider artist. At many openings Les King attempts to sell his amazing depictions of the metaphysical and on too many ocassions is kicked to the curb for his unconventional ways of trying to get by as an artist. How can gallery owners and patrons be so fucking crass and intimidated by an artist just trying to get by and have a place to sleep. He is an outsider artist not because he hasnt been trained in the accepted field of education but because he has been made an outsider by the self righteous "insiders". So glorify the romantic past of artists being shunned by the elite but realize what that elite is now. If you can't buy a 10 dollar drawing then thats your business, but have the decency to stand up for someone who needs a break and is honest about they are doing. Les is an amazing artist and deserves basic respect for having the balls to do what he does.
- Jay Isaac and Jenny Bishop
Von Bark: So Les got kicked out of an opening? He was probably bothering people, and not stopping. If Les understood human politics he wouldn't be an outsider. If Les knew how to stay out of people's way and not bother them so much then... well... Les is persistent. A lot of people are persistent. The people who run the world are persistent...