Art
Trending Toward Insanity
Some lose all mind and become soul, insane.Some lose all soul and become mind, intellectual.Some lose both and become accepted.~Charles Bukowski For the longest time, I viewed the ideal human condition as one ruled by the intellect in the form of logic. This condition was elevated to its purest forms in Mr. Spock of the […]
Tabula Not Raza
I am not sure I exist, actually. I am all the writers I have read, all the people that I have met, all the women that I have loved; all the cities I have visited.~Jorge Luis Borges As any engaged parent of multiple children can attest, being born with a Tabula Raza, a blank slate […]
The Source is Within
The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science. Whoever does not know it can no longer wonder, no longer marvel, is as good as dead, and his eyes are dimmed.~Albert Einstein In a group of people, I […]
Finding Beauty
My goal as an artist wannabe is to find beauty in the ordinary.~David Olson I, like most human beings, I reckon, am powerfully drawn to beauty, irresistibly taunted as a mariner is bewitched by the Siren’s luring melody. Not everyone has identical parameters defining their version of beauty, or societies for that matter. There was […]
Sick or Evil?
Some things break in a way that can never be repaired, only managed.~Dr. M’Benga Had I simply broken my leg, even incurring a compound fracture, instead of tearing my knee’s anterior cruciate ligament, I would be in a physically better place today. A healed fracture includes a significant calcium build up making the break area […]
Conscious Dreaming
Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things that escape those who dream only at night.~Edgar Allen Poe I rarely dream at night. At least, I recall very few nights swathed in dreams which does not mean I did not dream only that the awake and sleeping mind failed to connect unconscious dreaming […]
I Am Prey
We become what we hunt, as we inevitably begin to think like our prey.~Gretel Ehrlich I have been hunting for decades but have never been able to bag my prey. There are no heads mounted on my wall, no high stories of stalking, wrangling, or capture. My quarry is illusory in the way the monster […]
Beauty Sustains the Soul
By honoring wilderness, we honor beauty. Beauty is not peripheral, but at the core of what sustains us. Awe and wonder ignite our imagination.~Terry Tempest Williams Is it any surprise we are awestruck by ancient art lovingly painted in the deep recesses of dark caves? Or that some are willing to pay dearly for beautiful […]
The Danger of Nature Art
Art is dangerous because it does not have a definable function. I think that is what people are afraid of.~Terry Tempest Williams I spend part of most mornings creating what can loosely be defined as art. I express this in either the written word or images painstakingly layered upon canvas with colors. Or, if I’m […]
A Shite Painting
Art is the work we do when there is no right answer and yet the journey is worth the effort. ~Seth Godin Viewing the creative act as a journey rather than a destination frees the soul to fly unencumbered. Who doesn’t need a soul with wings to carry us into our future unburdened? Too often […]
Art Defeats Shitstorms
Life is a shitstorm, in which art is our only umbrella.~Mario Vargas Llosa At first blush, I heartily agree with the statement life is a shit storm but was not enamored as much with the claim art is our only umbrella. I can’t see how anyone could navigate the toilet of life without stumbling into […]
The Greatest Artist
There are things in nature which engender an awful quiet in the heart of man; Devil’s Tower is one of them. Man must account for it. He must never fail to explain such a thing to himself, or else he is estranged forever from the universe.~N. Scott Momaday When you think deeply about it, everything […]
What Is An Artist To Do?
What is an artist to do when inspiration dissipates quicker than smoke disperses into the universe when a Nor’easter crashes into the rocky coast? When inspiration, a once vibrant rose, becomes a dried husk fallen to the dirt is dismembered by the six legged people and carted off to the distant corners of the earth? […]
The Sea She is Raging
She is ragin’, she is ragin’And the storm blows up in her eyesShe will suffer the needle chillShe’s running to stand still.~U2 Polar opposite to the tranquil sea comprising my external demeanor, a demeanor frequently mistaken as stoic, disinterested, and even once lacking in enthusiasm which cost me a job in New Mexico, my soul […]
Exile By Choice
Those who don’t belong to any specific place can’t, in fact, return anywhere. The concepts of exile and return imply a point of origin, a homeland.~Jhumpa Lahiri I used to proudly belong to a place. Belonging, for a long time, gave me a measure of comfort, a sense of safety, a bed worn precisely to […]
The Imposter
He who claims to be sure of something for which there is no evidence is a fool, and he who acts on the basis of what cannot be proved is an imposter. ~Han Fei I desperately want to be an artist, to be recognized by the public as a creator of art, to be inextricably […]
Cultivating Sacred Spaces
A sacred place is an absolute necessity for anybody today. You must have a room, or a certain hour or so a day, where you don’t know what was in the newspapers that morning, you don’t know who your friends are, you don’t know what you owe anybody, you don’t know what anybody owes to […]
Divinely Superfluous Beauty
An art object by definition is “Divinely superfluous beauty.”~Joseph Campbell As far as I can tell, Art, the creation and consumption, has no effect on the physiological well-being of a human being. It can’t be eaten nor can it be planted to grow into sumptuous edibles. Nor does it address our needs for safety or […]
Developing Spiritual Hypertrophy
IHave learnedSo much from GodThat I can no longerCallMyselfA Christian, a Hindu, a Muslim,A Buddhist, A Jew~Hafiz, Great Sufi Master Following years of study and investigation and, in some cases, deep immersion, I have come to realize organized religion is training wheels for authentic spiritual life. Those who grow the strongest spiritual muscles have shed the […]
To Not Create Is to Die
Destroy the idea you gotta be good at artistic things to enjoy them, that every hobby has to become something you’re so good at, you can monetize it. A capitalist lie. Sing offkey, draw badly. Life is meant to be enjoyed, not monetized. You’re NOT a product.~Jen is #redforkashmir For the first time in decades, […]
Musings of a Middle Aged Man 