The title / moniker “Artist” should not exist. It’s a shame that it does.
This might sound a little crazy, but follow me here.
What is an artist essentially?
Well in my opinion it’s an individual who lives life, and takes up everything, like a sponge, all aesthetics, sounds, emotions, anything and everything. He takes them in, filters them, considers them, and then expresses them in a way, shape or form. The way he expresses them could have something to do with the source material or it could not. All in all, he communicates, honestly, unashamed, straightforward. An artist is considered brave by many people, because he expresses all of himself, whatever it may be, and bares himself to the world. Almost like a martyr in some ways I think.
Well isn’t that what everyone should be doing by nature?
We should all suck up all of life, take it all in, like one big black hole, and then pit all that against our own experiences, opinions, upbringing, fears, dislikes, likes, beliefs, all of what we are, we pit it up against ourselves, and then express our feelings about something, everything, anything.
It’s not that different from breathing, it comes naturally. It is a reflex.
Art comes naturally for me, expression is as easy as breathing for me. I wouldn’t know how to not express. It seems like a very selfish way of life to me; a very empty life.
Society is setup in a way that people nowadays are very very strange in my opinion. Most everybody has a hidden agenda, something to gain, they harbor secrets, they keep you at arm’s length, they lie, they cheat, they are not opinionated about anything almost, and the opinions they do have, are adopted from those they respect or admire.
Individuals almost do not exist anymore, just copies of copies, until all you have is a very very bad copy of the original where you cannot make anything out on the page. That is the way I view our species in this day and age.
People should be an idea. A concept. They should stand for something and be ready to die for what they stand for, for what they believe in. Be it “good” or “bad”. People are not just people, we have been given intelligence and free will, yet I see moss growing on trees who express more than our species. People stand for nothing anymore. They just exist. Various bags of beef, breathing, fucking, talking, waging war. To what end? To the end. Until we are gone, and we will not be remembered for anything. Sad. Sad. Sad.
We should all be artists. Because all art is, is a form of communication. Much like speech, or body language. In my opinion it’s even a much more efficient and beautiful expressive force than anything else commonly used today, like speech.
We should all be artists. We should all live art.
By coining some people artists and others simply “people” we are actually saying ” Man oh man can that guy / girl express beautifully, she really puts it out there, good for them. Too bad I can’t do that”
Guess what chump, you can. The fact that you don’t has nothing to do with your ability and everything to do with your will power and guts.
Be yourself, show yourself. To do so, we must first face ourselves, and be completely honest about our findings, then embrace them. What you find won’t be all beautiful or wonderful, matter of fact, most of it will be unsettling, and strange. But you know what, you are a meal comprised of many ingredients. Some sweet and some sour. But then again kids? What is our favorite sauce to dip our Mc D’s nuggets in??
That is correct: Sweet & Sour.
It tastes better than any sweet sauce, and a hell of allot better than any sour sauce, it does it in a way only a sweet and sour sauce can.
We are all sweet and sour sauces. Embrace that fact, and be proud of it. Love your sweetness, and embrace your sour. And people will be dipping their nuggets up in you faster than you can say “DamnRobthatsoundedsoWRONG!”
I want to leave you with one last comparison before I round up this philosophical rambling session.
There are a whole many things in this life much like the moniker “Artist” that are an abomination. If you really think about this, you’ll come up with way more. I won’t touch on all of them.
But here’s a strong one for you.
Contracts.
Contracts are the devil’s throbbing member.
What are we saying with contracts?
We are saying “I don’t trust you, because I don’t know you, and so we need evidence of our agreement, just in case you fuck me over, so I can present this in a court of law, and destroy you!” They present it to you with a smile, and you sign it with a smile.
That shouldn’t exist.
There was a time when people had honor, and a man’s word was, well…a man’s word. It was worth MORE than any contract, anyone could ever setup today.
Sure I realize that contracts are necessary. I do. But the reason why they are necessary is what gets me. And that is because people nowadays are completely messed up.
They don’t stand for anything anymore, like I said, they lie, they cheat, hidden agendas, they’re out to getcha! So we need contracts.
But they shouldn’t exist.
We’re supposed to shake hands, give our word, and live up to it, like the good ol’ days.
We’re supposed to breath life in, and breathe “art” out.
Share with eachother. Share, share share.
By creating these “tools” and these “titles” we are dividing our species and creating conflicts and issues left and right, resulting in a broken and divided society.
In closing I would like to quote a scene from a very unexpected source I’m sure.
From the movie Ant Bully, I remember a scene where Zoc, an ant, is talking to Lucas, a human boy who has shrunk to their size and is living among them, as both species learn from eachothers ways.
It goes a little something like this:
Zoc: So this “city” of yours, it’s like a nest?
Lucas: Uhh..kind of…
Zoc: And the humans that live there, are bothers working together for the greatness of their colony?
Lucas: Uhm…not exactly..it’s a little more like… you know..every man for himself.
Zoc: But that’s so primitive, how does anything get done?
Lucas: Some people work together…
Zoc: Some…why not ALL?!
Lucas: I suppose that’s because there are differences..
Zoc: But it’s the differences that make a colony strong; Foragers, scouts, drones, nurses, regurgitators, all are different, but an essential part of the whole! This is where we ants draw our strength.
Lucas: My differences just get me beat up.
Zoc: And why is that?
Lucas: I don’t know, some humans would rather clobber people they don’t understand…
Zoc: Like you like to “clobber” ants.
That scene clearly illustrates a very integral part of what is wrong with our society.
We humans like to think we are better than animals, well if you didn’t know even the “simple” ants have things better figured out than we do, as we can’t get over our petty differences, while they use those differences to gather strength, while we use them to divide us.
We need to start working together as a species. Now.
First step towards successful team work? Communication.
Best form of communication in my opinion? Art.
So let’s all be artists shall we?
We are all one. Act the part.
Quick facts:
The nature of art has been described by Richard Wollheim as “one of the most elusive of the traditional problems of human culture”
Leo Tolstoy identified art as a use of indirect means to communicate from one person to another.
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