The De Kooning book quoted Rosenberg, an art critic, referring to the gang of New York Schoolers as "the herd of independent minds". I have been thinking a lot about "the art world today", what is going on with it, I don't know? Is there one? A friend of mine said that art is all about region today. Everyone is doing something different in individual cities. Surfing around on-line and looking in publications like New American Painting gives some idea of a movement but this can be deceiving because these are reproductions and only images that are flashy get into them. Minimalism in real life takes some getting used to but online forget about it. In the fifties artists were poor, it was expected. I personally only know one artist who is truly poor, the rest have jobs or have businesses where they sell marketable goods related to their work. These days artists are as much entrepreneurs as creative types. We don't expect that because we are cursed with an impulse to make things, we also have to suffer in a shanty shack eating nothing but oatmeal and Ramon Noodle. One thing that will never change though is that if you decide to become an artist, its going to be a hell of a lot of work.