"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!
