7/5/14

Nothing To Do With Karst




"Oh my God! Art is sublime. Without it, life is empty. Nothingness. I have drawn millions of lines and splashed gallons of colors." Him, Himself, The Artist.


Read too many of those.
Heard too many artists' laments.
You are indeed somebody.
except...
Art does not heal
It does not cure cancer
excise a melanoma,
cauterize a wart nor
drain pus from a boil.
It does not mend broken hearts
even abort unwanted babies.
Planned Parenthood
happily does the latter.
"Art heals"
is a worn out cliche'.
Denial.
Art is pretentious
selfish, self serving
arrogant and phony.
Forgettable.
What may be an art treasure
to one is trash to another.
Warhol was not Titian
but then again one may prefer
Warhol over Titian.
Arts and crafts to some
baubles and kitsch to others.
Fill up the landfills
like styrofoam.
Art is self centered
exhibitionistic
pompous
and insecure.
It is lucky if it serves one,
the community, that's another.
It does not feed those
ravaged by famine
capture kidnapped girls
What good did those hashtags do?
Self promotion and
publicity.
Symbolic
of helplessness
and incompetence.
It does not stop an epidemic
neither resuscitate an infarcted heart
It cannot rebuild broken communities.
perhaps as trinkets for tourists
with proceeds going to charity.
A bake sale will do just the same.
It does not stop war
nor stifle terrorists from maiming
innocent children.
If it ever does something good
to someone it is because that someone
opens the mind to accept it.
Much like candy or ice cream to a child,
or lipstick, beer, perfume
a new car.
Except there are those whose
lines and colors jolt the brain
now and then
much like a
selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor
or perhaps cocaine?
I have not tried.
Maybe cake, beer or wine.
I hate the smell of beer and
don't care for wine.
A clean house, perhaps,
a neat pile of freshly laundered clothes.
So go ahead bake, drink and vacuum.
Take a photo and post it in
instagram or facebook.
Much better than sharing hoaxes
and silly memes
or bad poetry.
Ah look at that
a painting to match the couch
and throw pillows.
Sublime!




4 comments:

Marion said...

So full of wisdom! Where does that quote come from at the head of your blog, Ces? I've looked everywhere for it's origin and can't find it. Is it yours personally? I love it. xo

Ces Adorio said...

Hi Marion, thank you. Which quote? The one with the post? It is a collection of satirical writings I stated a while back.

Bella Sinclair said...

Aw, Ces, I must disagree. If meditation can improve anxiety and cognitive ability, why can't the act of creating art? And what is the world without art, without something to bring a smile to someone's lips and lightness to someone's heart, something to unite people, a moment's escape from sadness or trouble? That is not a world where I would like to live. As you say, it's up to the person to open their heart and mind.

Ces Adorio said...

Yes and No. I am not talking about "creating" "art" which is rather dubious considering that a painter creates a painting, a sculptor creates a sculpture" and an illustrator creates a drawing. On the other hand, what you refer to as "creating art" is exactly what I am talking about when modern artists think so much of themselves and consider anything they do is "art" by virtue of the fact that they call themselves "artists." Great architects design buildings with great aesthetic quality that people and critics call them a work of art, yet architects do not call themselves artists but architects. They have standards. Perhaps it is purveyors of the self-esteem" generation that call anyone an artist with or without any basic skill and what they do as art. For crying out loud, someone told me that a rule I wrote last week was pure art. No it was not. It was pure logic. I am so sick of the use and abuse of the word art, it has come to symbolize ugly things. In fact the uglification of art movement has a solid following. At some point it becomes meaningless. The fact is, anything that appeals to a person's aesthetic sense is called art, which makes it either useful and meaningful or totally trashy and useless. I like the masters who continually questioned the significance of their work and the humble painstaking practice of their trade. They ended up creating the most amazing pieces to behold. I understand that not everyone would agree. As for your work of art, I love what you do, which is why I am surrounded by them at work. They lift my spirits. On that we agree.