Reed Altemus wrote: >"Special"... hmmm.... I have always disliked preciousness in art. I feel it is a high >art professional attitude and it should be >done away with. All the artists with their precious objects- I feel an instinctual >"NO" My attitude is more like: first invent >something, then make a decision whether to call it art or not. Maybe "Special" isn't the right word I should have used. "Worthwhile"? No, maybe "Special" is right. As I wrote before, sometimes I make things and they seem "Special," almost as if they have been given to me from someone else, someone who knows what they are doing. Other times, most of the time!, I come up with garbage. I don't mean "Special" as in "Valuable Artistic Property: Do Not Touch or Photograph!" The blurry color picture I mentioned (http://www.nd.org/jronsen/duchamp14.jpg): might be special. I certainly do not feel ashamed at having you look at it. The other images in that series will probably be erased when I need the hard drive space. The short short story I wrote in 5 minutes and is now being sent to Carol for modification is something that is NOT in any special; it was just a writing exercise, which turned into a mail art project in the hopes that other people could turn it into something special with their modifcations. Maybe this is the wrong way to look at art. One of the things I am interested in collage is when, let's say, taking a bunch of cut out words or colors and throwing them up in the air so they land on a canvas. One time the resulting piece is garbage, the next time it is a masterpiece to behold. >I know what you're talking about. Yes, I bore myself silly sometimes. Just today I >was working on a couple of things trying something >new and just because it was different from anything I had done before, I instantly >wanted to censor myself. My insecurities abound likewise. Except for writing, I hardly ever censor myself when creating art. I will try anything I can think of, or at least explore the possibilties in my mind. Then I censor! And erase! And delete! And tape over! >Well as far as natural resources goes, if you do printed stuff, do you do it on 100% >recycled paper? I do because I don't want any trees >to die for my art. As far as asking for people's attention goes, sometimes it isn't. >One way to make sure your work is worth people's time >is to have it reflect issues that "your group" are interested in, making it >pertinent and even useful. I don't focus too much on using recycled paper: I don't produce all that much and I do use a lot of items that have been rescued from the trash. Also, I know I am somewhat hypocritcal in my concerns for the environment, yet I spend so much time on my computer and making electroacoustic music and mailing things around the world... But that is a topic for another day! -Josh Ronsen http://www.nd.org/jronsen --== Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ ==-- Before you buy.
