Monday, October 18, 2010
A CONSERVATIVE'S PREDICTION FOR THE ARTS
The artistic/creative community is marked more than any other that I know by a desire to stand out and be noticed. What is the point of expressing yourself if nobody notices? I can feel the objections of my artist friends as I type- "It's not about that for me personally," they might say, "It's catharsis," or "telling a story," or "representing a cause," or "speaking for those who have no voice," blah, blah, blah...I'm as much a student of the human scene as anybody and, in my opinion, that's all a bunch of hooey. It is my personal opinion that this burning desire for an audience, recognition and, frankly, attention is the engine that keeps pushing the arts out ahead of society's norms. Artists just aren't content in that thick meaty center of the bell curve. (See my post from May, 2006) The artist's heart is drawn to the edges that taper to rarity- to be exceptional...bad or good, beautiful or ugly, famous or infamous...it's no matter so long as it is excpetionally so. So the question is what will artists do when the last frontiers of decency have been trammelled? What new territory will they be forced to pioneer in the pursuit of staying novel and worthy of notice? How will they shock people? My guess is that as our society sheds the last vestiges of its ability to blush, artists will be forced to swing back to the right to escape getting lost in the the clutter and crowd of all these crazed envelope pushers. That's my prediction. In the coming years I expect to see a new wave of artists who will escape irrelevance by charging hard to the right, and will find an audience and surprising success in their efforts to stand out from all of the Madonnas and Lady Gagas of the world ('cause standing out is what it's all about), but I expect it to be a shallow, revisionist or all-too-extreme picture of conservativism that they paint. I doubt I'll agree with them either. So if you are an uber-conservative artist from the future reading this post, I want you to know I was not shocked, surprised or impressed. I saw you coming.
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4 comments:
This "conservative artist" you speak of... this meaty middle zone... I don't get it. In some ways we are all very similar, and in other ways we are all so unique and have aspects that are beautifully our own, no effort needed. Ugliness, Beauty, harmony, dissonance... these are all amazing portions of a spectrum that together create the human experience. Conservative, Liberal, Christian, atheist, searching and lost... every pixel, every moment is something that the artist hopes to explore. Some seek fame, some seek enlightenment, some are a hand reaching out looking for someone to take it. As an artist I think I disagree with the premise of this prediction. As I see it the full spectrum including "conservative" artists are ever present. Here.
I was feeling flattered that you posted my painting on your blog, but now...not so sure....
In genral though isn't this statement true, "It is my personal opinion that this burning desire for an audience, recognition and, frankly, attention is the engine that keeps pushing the arts out ahead of society's norms."
No?
I think that your statement is mostly true, although the general lack of the love of God certainly allows for people to push on. It is like the evil opposite of godly encouragement. Encouragement can push someone to continue to create and perfect, but recognition of evil seems to do the same...push evil even further. I was kidding by the way about you posting my picture. I love that you just put what you think out there, and whether I always agree or not, I love your open honesty. It is one of your best qualities.
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