The School of the Museum of Fine Arts is holding its annual “InsideOut” event, this week. It is being held November 18 & 19 from 12-8pm and November 20-22 from 12-6 pm at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts (SMFA) at 230 The Fenway Boston, MA 02115.
InsideOut is the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston’s celebrated annual sale. Once a year they let “the public in and the artwork out”. Thousands of pieces of fine art from one of the best art schools in the country. Student pieces intermingled with works by SMFA alumni and affiliated artists including Mike and Doug Starn, Nan Goldin and Ellsworth Kelly, among others.
There are literally thousands of works – paintings, drawings, prints and photographs along with sculptures and jewelry.
We visited this evening and met one of the artists, 2nd Year Graduate Student John C Gonzalez. He’s a fine young painter.
One of the unique things about some of John’s work is described on his website:
I have contracted artisans in China to manufacture a series of paintings, not to expedite the production of this work, but as a way to address and explore the concept of outsourced and commercially fabricated art. The use of artisan assistants has been accepted throughout history and remains a useful tool for many established contemporary artists. The difference here is that I am embracing my removal from the creative process in order to examine how an artist’s work can be manufactured through the use of a team of individuals.
The decision to hire artisans to create images of themselves and their lives implies that their subjectivity plays an active role in the making of my work. Artwork that is being outsourced for production reasons specifically ignores the artisan’s subjectivity in order to maintain the authorial intention of the artist. However, in this work, the anonymous and otherwise subliminal intentions of those who physically make the work become the focal point of these paintings.
Just one of the many promising young artists we are lucky to have in our midst, in Boston.
Photo of ‘Flower Dewail’ by John C Gonzalez
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John Keith is the publisher of 'the Life of a City' website. He is a long-time Boston resident who lives in the South End. He has been a writer, real estate agent, and candidate for public office, during his career. Next up: scallop fisherman. 
Great Job John!
By distancing himself from traditional vendor/customer agenda John has set the chinese artisan free to express herself. Fantastic idea! Such a process can teach us about art culture and the arts-economy in a new way — a new window seldom explored. This man would make an excellent teacher (but I’m biased).
Images of Irag and Urban Race Issues (in John’s site) are horrific in a very subtle way — very deep.