So this bloke at the Brewery Art Colony asks me to name the biggest artists in L.A.

He is scheming up some big production and is used to talking recent gradate students into uplifting his exhibition space (which is only for the elite until you complain about the half-assed quality all around, and then it is an alternative space and you are part of the problem).

So he has this list and I am popping off with observations like, Toba Khedoori had a solo show at MOCA, she must be semi large. So did Jennifer Pastor… and he is scribbling names, only pausing when I mention someone he had already typed onto his list. So then I look at his list. He has the big names on there (Kelley, Pittman, Baldessari) but he has some weird midcareer mediocrities on there (Lockhart, Kersels) and I start to laugh and tell him that he would probably get a more thoughtful response from people if he asked them Can you name an artist in L.A. whose career right now is bigger than Martin Kersels’ career? as it would weed out people whose careers were once far bigger than anything Martin will ever have (but are in bitter semi-retirement currently with no impact on culture at large). This Kersels Question also it puts the success of a lot of people with sparkly resumes up to a relatively simple litmus test.

Are you bigger than Martin Kersels?

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