sick, thanks, art

From toothache to throat- & sinus- ache, been sick lately. Starting to feel better, though my brain still feels like it needs new batteries.

A few things . . .

Thanks Tim, Curt, and Jean for your insightful comments on the Angry Liberal posting. I think Jean is on to something -- the right finds "spin" so easy to produce not only because they've been learning how to do it for the past 20-30 years, but also because they have no qualms whatsoever about hypnotizing themselves into believing their own propoganda.

On A New Broom, Nicholas responded to my question about whether or not present generations are less creative than preceding generations. I think he's probably right in saying, along with Thomas, that every generation probably feels this way, but I especially like the way he says it: "We must be what we are as well as we can be, and trust our taste in bathroom faucets." Thanks, Nicholas!

A couple of recent thoughts that may have been a result of a low-grade fever:

1) Consider a representational painting, say, of a dog chasing a ball. The dog may not be a real dog, and the ball may not be a real ball, but what about the chasing? I want to say this: the chasing is real and, moreover, the sense of the painting, its capacity to cohere into something other than a jumble of unrelated patches of color, hinges upon the reality of the chasing which it embodies.

2) Have you ever noticed how kids tend to draw the sky as a narrow blue strip at the top of the page? I recall doing this myself. Similarly, if you've ever taken an intro to drawing class, it probably took awhile to learn to draw what actually impresses itself upon the eye rather than what one knows or thinks must be there. It requires a peculiar -- and perhaps intimidating -- "leap of faith" to attend to, to be present for, what appears. I think that those of us who practice some form of art are used to making this leap whenever we, say, attend a performance, reading, or exhibition. If we want to appreciate it, we know how to become present for it, how to pay attention to the work itself and not to the daydreams swirling around in our heads. Anyway, my point is that I think it takes a lot of practice to do be able to do this, and the inability to do it (due to lack of opportunity and practice) is precisely what makes real art an irritating, indecipherable experience to many people. Unable to be present to the work itself, a lot of people react solely to the emotions and associations that the work immediately evokes -- hence they like music that sounds harmonious or rousing or is good to dance to, hallmark-card poetry, badly-executed pastoral landscapes, action-adventure with lots of stunts and special effects, and so on. No one teaches us how to be present to a work of art or, for that matter, to any sort of experience. Those of who have learned how to do it probably did so because we wanted to be artists, writers, musicians, etc, and were lucky enough to have the stamina and support we needed in order to keep trying until we figured it out.