What is art ?

What is art ?

Image by Demipoulpe
@ Design Festa #35 : www.designfesta.com

Design Festa is a biannual international art event, and everyone can exhibit as long as its original.
10,000 artists exhibit, buy and sell their works in a variety of mediums turning this two day event into artistic chaos!

Set : Tokyo's smörgåsbord

ten - tagged - #2

Image by the|G|™
TEN [tagged].

recently tagged by two lovely contacts:

10v10
www.flickr.com/photos/39041977@N03/

t.e.s.s.e.a.
www.flickr.com/photos/tess-e-a/

TEN [tagged] - a portrait and ten facts.

i don't particularly like self portraits.

'I grow old … I grow old …
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.'

however, i will try to do some this year, bear with me.

if you do wish to see half of me. feel free to go and look at my first TEN:

www.flickr.com/photos/the-g-uk/3831461514/

with respect to this ten, i offer some 'facts' and some 'opinion'.

rules are for bending.

and sometimes, breaking.

are you sitting comfortably?

then i'll begin......

[caveat] this may well end as a novella size piece of work.

forgive me :o occasionally, i like to write.

on we go.

TEN

1. relationhip [aka 'giving too much away']:

i have recently been shot out of a [sometimes wonderful] cannon that was a decade long relationship.

where to begin.

i give too much of myself away far too often. this is sometimes exceptionally detrimental, more often than not to my psychological wellbeing. i like people to be happy.

emerging from this lengthy relationship, i began to understand exactly how much i had changed. i stopped creating. no music. no art. very little writing, and that writing which i did produce i have now seen as a coded plea for change.

very often, we cannot see how damaged situations have become because we are inside the situations themselves.

i had moved much much too far toward my partner, and left the most important parts of me behind, those parts of me became hostages to my relationship.

i will never do this again. even if it may mean i spend the rest of my days alone.

being oneself is paramount.

if not, then what is?
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2. illness [aka 'fate is an evil motherfucker']

if you had told me five years ago that:

i would be taking prescription medication every day for a mental illness.
i would be doing the above for three years [and ongoing].
i would be hospitalised five times, all emergency calls, the longest stay being seven days.
i would undergo a severe nervous breakdown.
i would very seriously contemplate taking my life on three occasions [i do not reveal this for dramatic effect].
i would be living alone [very happily as it happens - see #1]
i would be considering every day a kind of battle, a fight.

if you had told me these things five years ago, i would have thought you a raving lunatic.

such is fate.

never, ever accede to a decision made by another when you consider that decision to be flawed.

you may well pay an exceptionally high price.

once again, i gave too much precious ground.

i should have stood that ground.
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3. comedy is beneficial [aka 'LMAO']

enough seriousness for the moment.

contrary to what some may think, i love to laugh.

i laugh at that which may well leave some puzzled [i have been an ardent fan of monty python since early childhood, my father used to take me to see the very early films].

i have a left-field sense of humour.

luckily, i do seem to find it relatively easy to make other people laugh, with special reference to the female of the species. this is useful. when you don't have the looks of johnny depp or the physique of brad pitt, you need all the weaponry you can muster :)

i enjoy making others laugh enormously.

here are some people who make me laugh [and think]. for me, the hallmark of great comedy is you laugh, then you begin thinking:

bill hicks [a genius all to soon lost to us].
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqBOMBSDQsI

christopher morris.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3BO6GP9NMY&feature=related

lenny bruce
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISXw7dmo9Co

spike milligan.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgontSmBwv4&feature=related

chris rock
www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcqJDDhoUlc

steven wright
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1HYUyhujl4&feature=related

george carlin
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeSSwKffj9o

george bush jnr
www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKD_BSMXVjg&feature=related

i am aware there are no women in the list above, and i'm not about to get pc and shoehorn one in. they just don't make me laugh as much as male comedians.
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4. politicians [aka, you know me].

i detest this particular species of human.

wholeheartedly, with a passion.

in so many ways, these people are not in any way part of the solution, though they do offer an important case study with regard to the causes of our many problems.

and you at the back there, please don't start yelling barack!.

give him time, he'll pull a clinton.

The best lack all conviction, while the worst. Are full of passionate intensity
w b yeats [from 'the second coming']

politicians were invented solely to illustrate the absolute truth of these wonderful lines.

imagine a world without politicians?

some would say that constituted secular heaven. i would offer little argument.

nb - there are exceptions. though i will not list them here.
_____________________________


4. three random facts about me [aka 'you don't know me'] #1.

i sleep downstairs, on a sofa, in the living room.

have done for over a year.

i no longer like sleeping in bedrooms.

it's part of the behaviour patterns related to my illness.
_____________________________


5. normal people [aka 'what is normal?'].

i have to admit, i really do find most 'normal' people quite boring.

i don't really know what motivates them , i don't understand their conversations at all, i don't understand their deep desire to be exactly like the other 'normal' people who surround them [well actually, i do understand that last one, it's fundamentally fear based].

i know that there are those who maintain that there is no such thing as a 'normal' person.

i humbly beg to differ.

i have worked with them. and regretted it. deeply.

they are often petty, hideous and ignorant cretins.

i want no part of their wretched lives.

and i fervently hope they would want no part of mine.

rest assured, there are billions of square pegs that fit very comfortably indeed into the very squarest of holes.

after all, what purpose does mainstream television serve other than entertaining the 'normal' majority with a constant stream of vacuous piffle?

please don't misunderstand, i do not automatically dislike 'normal' people. i'm just puzzled.
_____________________________


5. it's not what you have, it's what you do [aka 'pissing contest?'].

another thing i don't quite understand.

the pissing contest.

i have an old cooker. it works. i can cook my food.

why would i want to buy a £1000 miele?

i have a 28" 'old skool' crt television [widescreen].

i like the picture. it is a great picture.

why would i want to get one bigger?

and then bigger?

and then bigger still?

the pissing contest is another blatant example of fear based behaviours [of course there is also a reproductive element].

my owned objects reflect my status as a human being.
therefore i must always seek to spend more money on my owned objects than my peers.
as a result, my peers will deem me a worthy human being.
the more money i expend, the worthier i become in their eyes.

thankfully, i have no peers who behave this way.

and i truly pity those people who do [i do mean pity]. it must be an entirely terrible way to live.

constant envy.
constant dissatisfaction.
constant competition.
constant disappointment.

of course, to have nice things is a nice thing in itself.

that is not the same as engaging in the pissing contest.

i should have done some recent flash animation work for a major company who were holding a competition. the winner would receive a 'designer' [isn't every product designed?] leather bag. this bag would cost £750 to purchase.

i didn't complete the work in time.

in fact, i didn't do the work at all.

in fact, i don't do that kind of work anymore.

i find i can't. it is too difficult conceptually. for all the right reasons.

i am glad i no longer do this type of work. it is part of the problem

the only time this bag [and all 'designer' products] is 'useful' as a social hierarchy tool, is when the idiot wearing it meets another vapid idiot who also knows how much it costs.

to everybody else, it's a leather bag.

of course, this is exactly why we have recently had a veritable explosion with respect to 'labels'.

what better way to advertise your social standing than by being a human billboard for your own pointless expenditure!!

as [the quite brilliant] jonathan meades states whilst standing next to a high price mercedes for his wonderful series 'Magnetic North':

'of course this is not a car, it's a boast'

wonderfully put.
_____________________________


6. three random facts about me [aka 'you don't know me'] #2.

i dislike small pieces of coal.

[nb - those with open fires and stoves may well have the same opinion.]

_____________________________


7. art is medicinal [aka 'what is art?'] #1.

this seems a self evident fact to me.

music plays an immense part in my life, both the making of it, and the listening to it.

it has helped me struggle through some exceptionally difficult times.

and continues to help me on a daily basis.

as do literature, painting, documentary film, photography, poetry, sculpture and a host of other artforms.

the arts themselves [as varied as they may be] are a medicine. healing, teaching, supporting and sometimes simply pleasing. they are essential to me.

and those artists who produce work [here on flickr and elsewhere] which i enjoy are like an elixir for me. they provide visual, audio, psychological and philosophical nourishment.

long may they continue to do so.

art is food that you don't eat. water that you don't drink. air that you don't breathe.
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8. three random facts about me [aka 'you don't know me'] #3.

i enjoy birdwatching. it is peaceful, the scenery is beautiful, the people are exceptionally friendly and it is genuinely interesting to me.

this in no way precludes from being the ultimate 300mph whacked out rock and roll motherfucker :)
_____________________________


8. whining fuck [aka 'relativism'].

no matter how terrible my life has been, albeit intermittently, over the last three years, i know full well there are people who endure lives of such desperate bleakness, of such incalculable squalor and horrific deprivation, that it is literally impossible for me [or indeed you] to contemplate their existences in any serious fashion. we are too far removed from their reality to even offer comment.

we are too sleek, too well fed, too wealthy [even when we think we are poor] and too fortunate [even when we think we are unfortunate].

relative to millions [if not billions] of people on this planet, we people in the 'developed' [sic] nations live as kings and queens. there are countless people living on this planet who would be as unable to understand or comprehend the ease and excessive [often ludicrous] richness of our lifestyles, as we are wholly unable, and wholly unsuited, to understand the horror, slavery, torture and deprivation that is their daily lot.

i am not the greatest fan of relativism when used in a social sense, and may argue that fundamentally it serves little useful purpose.

for example:

if 'A' is feeling terrible, and 'B' tells 'A' 'at least you are not blind as 'C' is!', i will often offer the opinion that this simply leads to 'A' continuing to feel terrible, having now been granted the superfluous knowledge that 'C' is blind.

'A' knowing of 'C's blindness cannot affect it, nor will this knowledge necessarily reduce 'A's misery in any way whatsoever.

that said, i often try to think about those [cliche though it may well be] who are far far worse off than i.

and that there are so very very many is an absolute fact.

i can walk, talk, see, hear.

i live in a comfortable house, with [more than enough] food to eat.

i am surrounded by high tech toys, many wonderful books, i have gizmos to entertain me, money [very little, yet enough], i am physically healthy, i can make choices with respect to my life that billions could only dream about.

i live as a relative king to them.

this i must never, never, forget.

nor, and in this i beg your indulgence, should you.
_____________________________


10. flickr [aka 'we are family'].

as i have mentioned before.

this strikes me as a revolution.

nothing more, nothing less.

a dazzling, wonderful and peaceful revolution.

one which i consider myself blessed to be a part of.

to have connected with such incredible people; such talented artists, such warm, honest and beautiful people scattered across this spinning ball of mud, has been a blessing for me.

flickr is an integral and vital part of my everyday life.

i would be surprised if i watched over three or four hours of television in any given week. i do not buy any newspapers or magazines.

every morning begins exactly the same way.

awake. wash. dress. prepare the stove [at this time of year]. produce coffee. flickr.

unchanging.

i may have told you [yes, i mean you!] this before, but you are important to me.

the friendships [and they are] i have made. the incredible contacts i have developed. the wonderful people who i now communicate with. i thank you all.

you made 2009 all the better for your presence on my flat screens. and thus in my life.

without you, things would have been decidedly worse.

on closing this second TEN, i offer you my very best wishes, love, and heartfelt thanks for being who you are.

let us take 2010 by the scruff of the neck, and rock the fucking shit out of it :)

end of transmission.

11. fuck rules :)

________________________________________________________________________

i have enjoyed producing this TEN very much.

though i do have to warn that i may not take another one on for some time.

though of course.

if you don't ask, you don't get! :)

my thanks to tess and violet.

the|G|™
x

What is art ?

Image by Demipoulpe
@ Design Festa #35 : www.designfesta.com

Design Festa is a biannual international art event, and everyone can exhibit as long as its original.
10,000 artists exhibit, buy and sell their works in a variety of mediums turning this two day event into artistic chaos!

Set : Tokyo's smörgåsbord