THE SECOND MIDDLE AGES

 IT MIGHT SEEM like these unnecessary, manufactured, tariffs wouldn't have that much effect on "starving artists," but, only today, I'm learning that they do. The cost of printing my canvas art has jumped 90% (ninety percent!) over the last month. Canvas is a textile, which comes, primarily from China. The US and Japan produce about the same amount of black commercial printing ink, but it ain't easy to get by on black alone. Pigments for ink and paint come from countries all over the world. The largest ink producers are located in Japan, China & Europe. None of the top 10 are located in the USA. None.

Once the canvas is printed, it has to be stretched on a wooden frame. The US is said to only import 10% of its lumber - with 70% of that coming from Canada, and most of the rest from China & Mexico. So, while I haven't yet checked, I don't expect the price of stretching frames to increase quite as much - but I fully expect it to go up - just because everything else is. Hardwood for the floating frames, should (should) be about the same percentage increase as the pine stretching frames. We'll see, I guess.

Then, there's the added factor of people, having the ridiculous, unnecessary increases in the cost of their basic survival, not being able to afford "frivolous" art. Thereby substantially decreasing the demand.

People in other pursuits will have to come up with ways to get through and outlast this IDIOCRACY. It has to end at some point – hopefully sooner than later. It took the Middle Ages a thousand years to transition to the Renaissance. Maybe it won’t be that long this time around. But, the successful artists of this era will be the ones who figure out a way to use the misery of the masses as their canvas and blood and tears as their paint.