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Originally posted by rawheroine
Originally posted by mikegrouchy
Just like that redwood tree,
this tree was waiting for someone,
anyone,
to make its story into a piece of art,
or a piece of art about it,
so that it would be cherished and it's life preserved.
It's too late for the Sahara, and the last tree in it,
but it's not too late for that redwood tree.
Mike
edit on 30-7-2013 by mikegrouchy because: (no reason given)
What you wrote here really stuck with me, I came back and read it a few times more! I feel conflicted about this the more I think about it and apply it to my own experiences, though. Does "giving" someone (or something) a storyline increase its value, or does it degrade it? If a human's life is manipulated by outside forces, say, "God", is that beautiful or horrific? If it's artfully done, replete with puns, archetypes, style, deeper meaning, jokes, personal touches - what is that? High art or just higher quality consumerism? I feel we're in a post-post-modern era now where everything has been degraded and used so much, the only art that's left is in daily life, the art of living. Cramming art/advertisements/tags/references/jokes into every available crevice.
Originally posted by rawheroine
I'm thinking of this one quote from Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut that really sticks in my craw:
"The worst thing that could possibly happen to anybody would be to not be used for anything by anybody. Thank you for using me, even though I didn't want to be used by anybody."
I think what gets me about that is his use of "use" (if you'll pardon my Bill Clinton-ism.) Are human beings, and animals and plants for that matter, alive in order to be "used" by someone with a supposedly higher vision? Is that redwood beautiful when it's alive and serving its living purpose? Or is it more beautiful when it's harvested and cut, filed, sanded, honed into something else by an artist with a vision? Is the redwood entitled to a natural life as it was born, or is its godliness and art in the potential of its matter?
We are here to help each other through this thing, whatever it is.
- Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Originally posted by rawheroine
Originally posted by rawheroine
Do you think news stories can be art? Like, ones that are discussed round these parts? I do.
Originally posted by rawheroine
I prefer the living redwood to a bench that functions as a parking spot for human butts. No more chairs!! No more pinned down butterflies!! No more leopard skin rugs!!
Originally posted by MyHappyDogShiner
Art was a window washer on state street in Madison WI.
Art is a street musician in Madison WI.
At least that's some stuff I read on T-shirts claim that's what Art is, I knew both of them and they were Art in name only.
Art is what is produced when people have spare time to spend doing nothing of consequence, I was considered an artist once, but it didn't put food on the table so I moved on to being a run-of-the-mill debt peon.
As far as art being against the law, [color=gold] spray-painting on somebody else's wall should be unlawful.
Originally posted by rawheroine
That's one thing I continue to find to be of value and joy on the internet - that a "regular person" can teach his/her fellow citizens so well. Some of us want to learn, even if we're supposedly all done with "school", and find that almost no one cares to even want to teach, answer questions, exchange information and ideas. I admire people who have information and wisdom to share, and also have the magnanimity in their hearts and the artistic talent to successfully impart the wisdom to others. Plenty of people want to "give" information, which tends to get dictatorial, but the threads you shared, and this one right here, are about SHARING information and wisdom. Well done!!
I was thinking about news being art in a different way as well, like the news items themselves being art, evidence of a human writer/director, or divine intervention, or something. The Snowden story for example - it has jokes and pop culture references (Snow - "Informer", The Terminal, etc.), archetypes (Snow White, David and Goliath), anagrams, as above-so below connotations, philosophical questions, coherence, metaphors, and, most importantly, makes the viewer question his or herself deeply. Really a nicely done production, and the metaphors have legs - they'll take you all over the place if you let them. I don't want to pin down the whole thing, but that's why I think news items are worth analyzing, because they're all little passion plays in and of themselves. If we're in the Truman Show, might as well give up a little applause when Christof does something semi-brilliant, right?
That's why I think that life is really the only art left. A painting does a lot, but how far can it travel? I think DARPA is kind of the last to know that a narrative can bring something to life and also sustain its life, direct it, mold it, teach it. The story of the last tree in the desert being demolished by a drunk driver is poetry. It's a tragedy, but it's well done, isn't it?
Originally posted by rawheroine
Look how much the animals enjoy the yard and the tree in the time lapse video! It's like a family home movie, here's the tree when it was 1 year old playing with the dog, etc. Telling the story the tree can't tell itself but would like to - that's beautiful. And making it a part of something.
I would hate to see a time lapse video of one of the poor redwoods in Bohemian Grove, though. Lots of old men in witch robes taking leaks on it, I'd imagine.
Colombian-born Israel Hernandez-Llach died on Tuesday after police shocked him with a Taser as he ran away from officers who caught him spray-painting the wall of a shuttered McDonald's.
yahoo.com / hundreds mourn tazered miami graffiti artist
23 hours ago