From time to time, I will expound on certain thoughts I have about being an artist. You can see earlier thoughts, here and here. I ask a lot of questions, I'm pensive and analytical.The rickety audio of my observations and experiences is here, Lives on Display and Beauty were my commentary after 2 seasons of slam poetry contrasted with a more academic point of view. The original poetry/blog archive, with much meandering and wibbling about art, is here, have at it.
I often refer to my first year, post-trauma, as the year I spent as a walking corpse. The truth is, I'd been flayed alive. What callouses I'd built up to the world, were ripped away.
Last night, I watched this and wept. With both the joy of recognition and the rippling memory of agony. It's about halfway through the video that the, "A-HA! That's exactly right! Oh my god..." *wibble* moment occurs.
There are extraordinary souls in this world. Watch that, and you're watching one of them.
When you carve away all the layers of ego and bullshit, the making of art is about making something whole in ourselves. Making something outside of ourselves that can be shared, is a method of communication. We mend ourselves and each other in tiny ways. It can mean everything, at the right moment.
Showing posts with label artists. Show all posts
Showing posts with label artists. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Seeing with different eyes: How artists experience and translate the world.
This is not a scholarly treatise. This is an opinion and anecdotal evidence. This is not exclusive to visual artists. All of the artists I know, (lots) regardless of media, seem to share the ability to see the world differently.
We're all familiar with the cliche of the tortured artist: the Van Goghs, Rimbauds...etc. I won't belabor the point.
There's some scientific evidence that links creativity to neurological/genotypes common to schizotypal disorders and autism. (Google it. I'm not your momma. Oh, all right: the New Scientist, and Wikipedia. Start there.)
It got me thinking.
Artists/Creatives/Makers... we're not like other people. We don't think in the same way, we don't feel in the same way, everything is both experiential and detached. Polaroids of memory, but more than that. Scent, sound, texture, taste and emotion are all filed away in a little memory box with the Polaroid on the front so we can find it.
I'm lucky if I can find my keys in my hand, but I can tell you everything about the first time I ate a donut peach. I can rhapsodize about the best make-out session I've ever had.
The way desire actually tastes, in that moment of anticipation before you first kiss someone.
(a bitter tang in the back of the throat.)
Some people paint it, film it, photograph it, choreograph it, sculpt it.
I write it and usually speak it.
The best way I can describe it is that, we see with different eyes.
We map the world in 3D and store it for translation.
That's where we add the 4th dimension: Soul, consciousness, mind, self... we must be gods and heroes creating an archway into the worlds we create, regardless of medium.
Call it what you will, it's something that is tangibly intangible. Deus ex machina.
This, "sight," carries over into the rest of the world and the way we interact with it. We question more, we listen. We're drawn to certain kinds of people. We're sometimes self-destructive, sometimes self-aggrandizing, always walking the wire between the freaks and normals. It doesn't matter which group we identify with. We straddle the worlds. We may or may not function effectively in society. There is a broad spectrum. We often wear our personae like masks. Chameleons roaming the earth collecting secrets and stories.
I digress.
I have questions.
I wonder if most of the people I know who create, find that the following is true: Things that seem incredibly complex to, "Normal," people are incredibly obvious or simple. Things that are simple or obvious to, "Normal," people are layered with complexity. Yes/No? Why do you think it is or isn't true?
I started writing this because I know a number of exceptional people who are artists, musicians and writers. We seem to share a common quest, journeying along the path of consciousness. Not all, but many. I'm curious (always, can't help it,) to know if others find it the same. Casting a wider net via the blog to see if it is so.
I'll let you know how it turns out.
We're all familiar with the cliche of the tortured artist: the Van Goghs, Rimbauds...etc. I won't belabor the point.
There's some scientific evidence that links creativity to neurological/genotypes common to schizotypal disorders and autism. (Google it. I'm not your momma. Oh, all right: the New Scientist, and Wikipedia. Start there.)
It got me thinking.
Artists/Creatives/Makers... we're not like other people. We don't think in the same way, we don't feel in the same way, everything is both experiential and detached. Polaroids of memory, but more than that. Scent, sound, texture, taste and emotion are all filed away in a little memory box with the Polaroid on the front so we can find it.
I'm lucky if I can find my keys in my hand, but I can tell you everything about the first time I ate a donut peach. I can rhapsodize about the best make-out session I've ever had.
The way desire actually tastes, in that moment of anticipation before you first kiss someone.
(a bitter tang in the back of the throat.)
Some people paint it, film it, photograph it, choreograph it, sculpt it.
I write it and usually speak it.
The best way I can describe it is that, we see with different eyes.
We map the world in 3D and store it for translation.
That's where we add the 4th dimension: Soul, consciousness, mind, self... we must be gods and heroes creating an archway into the worlds we create, regardless of medium.
Call it what you will, it's something that is tangibly intangible. Deus ex machina.
This, "sight," carries over into the rest of the world and the way we interact with it. We question more, we listen. We're drawn to certain kinds of people. We're sometimes self-destructive, sometimes self-aggrandizing, always walking the wire between the freaks and normals. It doesn't matter which group we identify with. We straddle the worlds. We may or may not function effectively in society. There is a broad spectrum. We often wear our personae like masks. Chameleons roaming the earth collecting secrets and stories.
I digress.
I have questions.
I wonder if most of the people I know who create, find that the following is true: Things that seem incredibly complex to, "Normal," people are incredibly obvious or simple. Things that are simple or obvious to, "Normal," people are layered with complexity. Yes/No? Why do you think it is or isn't true?
I started writing this because I know a number of exceptional people who are artists, musicians and writers. We seem to share a common quest, journeying along the path of consciousness. Not all, but many. I'm curious (always, can't help it,) to know if others find it the same. Casting a wider net via the blog to see if it is so.
I'll let you know how it turns out.
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