Today Was A Day
I spent most of today working o nthe YLEM website. Made significant progress. This afternoon I worked at Orange.
Tonight I helped Elizabeth with her reading and spelling. Then we played UNO for a while, and, as usual, she beat me almost every time. After she went to sleep, I did a lot of email responding. Now it's pushing midnight, and it's time for bed.
Today I thought about whether or not Art has any place in the societies of the 21st Century. I've often thought that Art has become the religion of secular nations. Now, I'm not so sure. I'm wondering if the global focus on fundamentalist religion is problematising the Art As Secular Religion. It's kind of like the old "CHTHULU FOR PRESIDENT" poster - "Why settle for a lesser evil?" Art is the lesser evil, and it seems people want to pull the wool over their own eyes and don't want some flimsy ersatz mystification of "aesthetic experience" getting in the way of their visceral ecstacy.
That, combined with the gutting of public education, and the co-option of Art by Entertainment at the hands of Hollywood, the Music Industry, and the Gallery/Museum Industrial Complex - it just seems that Art is less and less relevant to people's lives. Reality TV, iTunes / iPod, and Monet Prints have simply taken over - even in the homes of people with enough money to know better. They Just Don't Care, and They Certainly Don't Get It.
As a working artist, I find these conclusions rather depressing - and these are "Educated People". The rest of society seems to have even fewer ties to Art or anything meaningful.
To quote a friend of mine,
(On a reality TV show, one of the people did a protest about refugee concentration camps)
"I had to turn it off and let my mind unchurn. I understand that the issue is much more complex than that, and maybe it was a bit overdramatic... but the audience jeered and howled... they were incensed that somebody was showing compassion in the middle of their fun. It's getting worse - the average person in the street needs more toys, more stimulation, harder drugs, faster sex just to keep from slipping into a coma - maybe an iPod with a dildo that shoots coke up their ass. I fear their bloodlust. You can write an artistic appraisal of Roman Amphitheatres - it's still a bunch of people being mauled by lions."
Well. Now it's almost 12.30am. The alarm goes off in 6 hours. I get so little sleep any more. I don't know why, but in the late evening I get this rush of energy, and sleep just doesn't come easily.
More tomorrow.
HW
Tonight I helped Elizabeth with her reading and spelling. Then we played UNO for a while, and, as usual, she beat me almost every time. After she went to sleep, I did a lot of email responding. Now it's pushing midnight, and it's time for bed.
Today I thought about whether or not Art has any place in the societies of the 21st Century. I've often thought that Art has become the religion of secular nations. Now, I'm not so sure. I'm wondering if the global focus on fundamentalist religion is problematising the Art As Secular Religion. It's kind of like the old "CHTHULU FOR PRESIDENT" poster - "Why settle for a lesser evil?" Art is the lesser evil, and it seems people want to pull the wool over their own eyes and don't want some flimsy ersatz mystification of "aesthetic experience" getting in the way of their visceral ecstacy.
That, combined with the gutting of public education, and the co-option of Art by Entertainment at the hands of Hollywood, the Music Industry, and the Gallery/Museum Industrial Complex - it just seems that Art is less and less relevant to people's lives. Reality TV, iTunes / iPod, and Monet Prints have simply taken over - even in the homes of people with enough money to know better. They Just Don't Care, and They Certainly Don't Get It.
As a working artist, I find these conclusions rather depressing - and these are "Educated People". The rest of society seems to have even fewer ties to Art or anything meaningful.
To quote a friend of mine,
(On a reality TV show, one of the people did a protest about refugee concentration camps)
"I had to turn it off and let my mind unchurn. I understand that the issue is much more complex than that, and maybe it was a bit overdramatic... but the audience jeered and howled... they were incensed that somebody was showing compassion in the middle of their fun. It's getting worse - the average person in the street needs more toys, more stimulation, harder drugs, faster sex just to keep from slipping into a coma - maybe an iPod with a dildo that shoots coke up their ass. I fear their bloodlust. You can write an artistic appraisal of Roman Amphitheatres - it's still a bunch of people being mauled by lions."
Well. Now it's almost 12.30am. The alarm goes off in 6 hours. I get so little sleep any more. I don't know why, but in the late evening I get this rush of energy, and sleep just doesn't come easily.
More tomorrow.
HW
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