Is there anything more human than Art and the Artist’s passion to produce art and thereby leave his/her mark in the world? I think not. I rather think that it is Art that defines us as humans and separates us from all other known forms of life. In point of fact I don’t think “being human” is at all possible without the continual production of art on the part of each and every one of us.
I consider myself an artist. I consider ALL of us artists! I would make the case that human life, on the right side of everything we would call sanity, is impossible without the continual and highly artistic enterprise of “creating”, out of mostly thin air, not only a canvas upon which we stand, but, the frame within which we may safely operate. Some of us borrow a bit of canvas and all of us work exclusively within the boundaries of colors first discovered by others, but, each of us strives to be a unique work. Copying too closely the recognized work of others is, in life as it is in oil painting, considered bad form at best and plagiarism at worst. Imitation may well be the highest form of flattery, but, it’s still somehow less than we are all expected to produce when it comes right down to it.
Now I’m sure there are some readers asking themselves… “How can Mrs. N. say we are ALL artists”?
It’s simple really. If you are confused about it the confusion, probably, is a result of having too limited and constricted a view of what art consists of. You are probably limiting yourself, or art, to drawing, sculpting, dancing, writing, musical performance and the like. That is a mistake. Certainly they are forms of artistic expression, but, they are highly specialized and not at all the kind of Art & Artists I am talking about and claim we, myself included, all are. They are what I like to think of as the Bold Arts, the obvious and solid arts, while what I am referring to can be considered more in the realm of the mostly occult, or, hidden arts that provide the actual foundation upon which human life and civilization rests.
Some artists work in oils, some artists work in clay, but, we all work in bullshit and from such a humble material construct the meaning and very essence of our lives. We are the actors in a play of our own authorship and the extras and bit part players in the performances of others. We are far better looking than others would recognize and far more wise than most can easily see. We are much more often right than we are wrong and routinely under-appreciated for what we have to offer. We are important! We are here for a reason! We are the Center of something, even if it is something we don’t completely understand…. One day we will! God, the Creator of Everything, loves us like nobodies business and I have that bit of information on the highest authority.
“All the world ‘s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts” – (Act II, Scene VII).
That is from Shakespeare’s play “As you like it” and we all damn well should. We should appreciate the opportunity to write in and act as stars in our own play. We have the obligation to produce it as the highest form of art we can with the materials we have available. Tragedies and comedies are, after all, made of the same stuff.
“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so”. – ( Hamlet, Act II, Scene II).
And bullshitting, we should never forget bullshitting.
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