Contemporary Art

The SF writer Theodore Sturgeon once said "90% is crap". This has been interpreted in various ways, but my interpretation is that 90% of what is out there is eventually destined for the dumpster. Don't matter what it is - art, literature, philosophy, scientific theory. In our Consumer Age, it is eventually recognized as crap, and tossed. And rightly so. Sometimes it takes longer than other times.

It does not appear so in our Modern times, but I feel the encouraging trend is (hopefully) towards more sophisticated tastes and judgment.

It will take some time before good taste finally kicks in. And so, throughout the Modern and Postmodern periods of Art, we, the viewing public, must put up with the usual symptoms: Self-adoration, leading to self-flagellation; strained attempts to seem "fun" and/or "edgy"; pitifully infantile use of shock and surprise to gain attention; ham-handed use of marketing attempts in 'branding', 'demographics', 'peak saturation', etc. and a confusion of brute force combinatorics and ADHD spontaneity with creativity and originality.

Once again, I am insulted by the latest abuse of my senses by contemporary artists. This particular artist (work off to the right), whom I will not name so as to avoid providing even more recognition, sold a POS* hastily painted plastic skull for almost 20,000 Pounds. I've found it all to be quite embarrassing, to say the least.

*Piece of Shit

These symptoms of disease in many respects ape and echo modern politics and society, and, I think, are really nothing more than an entirely human reaction to future shock. Things are changing faster than artists can comprehend. Science (at least since the atomic age) is much sexier than art, and real life is even stranger than fiction. How can you compete with this?

Obviously, artists are not equipped to compete with this.

Thus these stumblingly inept and awkward attempts at garnering attention. "Look at me! Look at me! ME! ME! ME!" doesn't work anymore. They are just one more voice in an incredibly unruly and even more noisome and obnoxious crowd. They really are, in a freak-show world of Predator unmanned fighter drones, inbred Mormon cult families, cannibal hobbyists, kamikaze Islamic fanatics, gun-totin', fuel-oil-and-fertilizer bombin' White Supremacists, reality TV, always, always at least two steps behind the times. Why, its a wonder that artists even try.

It's not really the art world, is it? It's the world. I think Alvin Toffler was on to something with his idea of Future Shock. There's just too much information, too much acceleration, going on in the world, and anyone who wishes to be creative has either to try to ride the leading edge of the Wave (and fail, always), or find a nice spot behind it.

I could say more but why?

"Man Is the Only Animal That Can Choke On His Own Vomit"

Or Needs To!

--to paraphrase Mark Twain.

The title has absolutely nothing to do with the essay, but I just came up with it, liked it, and figured I might as well use it before I forget it. So there you go.

I was asked to predict the way things might be in the year 2030. I could've given my standard response and asked why? Anything I say will be wrong. Totally wrong. As in "Ask A Psychic" wrong. Yeah, that wrong.

Ah, but it is fun to play. Instead of saying how things will be, I will predict Ten Things won't be happening in the year 2030.

1) There will be no supersmart superintelligent computers, like Hal or Skynet . Not because we ban them out of fear, but because we just can't build them. It turns out natural intelligence is hard enough to come up with, the artificial stuff is that much harder. Especially when attempted by beings whose first impulse is to fix things by banging them with their fists.
2) (Easy one). No flying cars. Nope. Not a one.
3) (Another easy one). No fusion power. (But the ongoing promise that "fusion is just thirty year off").
4) I'm bucking the trend here. I was going to say 90% of Americans are obese and unable to move. Instead, I think there will be a return to the good old days. Only the rich will be fat, and will be proud of it. Everyone else will be lean, tough, and mean (although, scarcity might have something to do with it).
5) Oil will be fifty cents a barrel. Everyone will run their electricity off of pure unadulterated cussedness. There will be a hole in the garage that you scream smoking radioactive blue profanities into. That's what powers everything.
6) Japan will be the 51st state. But the deal is, their robots run the show. USA heartily agrees. (contradicts 1? Nope. I didn't say they were smart robots. Just did a better job at running things than Americans).
7) Vegetables are no longer grown in soil. Instead they are made from factory grown test tube meat.
8) You can only join the armed forces if you are gay. (Because it turns out they make the best soldiers. And actually, that's probably the closest prediction to being right).
9) Duct tape is no longer manufactured. (No explanation given).
10) There will be no manned mission to Mars. (People finally came to their senses, and asked, why?)

Welcome to the future!

Just In Case You Weren't Convinced I'm Not Evil...

...keep in mind I laughed out loud when I saw today's headline:

"Segway Owner Dies After Falling Off River Cliff"

Not only did I laugh out loud, I had a hard time stopping. Must have been the visual image.

No. NO! I agree with you. It's tragic.

And once I read the news report, I felt it was tragic. Poor guy. Worked his way up in the world. Self-made millionaire. Recently purchased the Segway company, and given how many fat cops and security guards I've seen on them, given that 75% of Americans are projected to be obese by 2020, I'd say it was a wise investment on his part.

But you got to admit, people do look goofy on them. And there is something spookily comical about people standing up motionless and zipping along on the things. All the more comical if a rider fell off a cliff, rather Monty Pythonesque, if you will.

So there you go.

"Man Plans, God Laughs"

That's an old Yiddish proverb. It's also the phrase that my boss Sam had tattooed on the inside of his forearm. The inside of his left forearm. In Hebrew. He's Jewish, in case you need more info.

He had told me a while back that he was going to get the tattoo, in Hebrew characters. When he showed it to me, I squinted at it and read "-one Ring to find them, and in the darkness bind them".

He wasn't happy with that. I could tell from his eyes I'd gotten his goat, so naturally, I kept going.

"I didn't know you was Elvish! That's... that's something!"

Definitely was not happy. So I relented.

"That's nice Sam. That's great. Hey, at least you have a rich cultural tradition to borrow from. I couldn't get a tattoo with any of my symbols".

"What do you mean?"

"What could I get? A swastika? SS lightning bolts? I don't think so. The Nazis polluted it all. And then there's the white supremacists".

"Yeah, gee. Your people have it really hard".

Who Owns That?

Recently, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin wrapped his arms around the North Pole and said "Mine!"


And, after having done that, he specified that any divvying up of Arctic resources could be resolved peaceably, which, I guess, involves some kind of Risk game rolling of the dice.


(Yes, I played Risk, and now regret it. I would sorely love to have those hundreds of hours of wasted time back).


Ah, but there are a couple of points here. One thing, an ironic point, is how many global warming skeptics are suddenly warming (ah-ha-ha! funn-ny!)  to the idea of exploiting Arctic resources. Apparently, there is a ton of gas and oil up there, probably enough to get us all the way to the climate of Venus (which, see, is a joke, because, Venus is, like, hot, dude). 


So, suddenly a lot of these conservative business-type deniers seeing the giant dollar signs floating in the sky over the Arctic circle, apparently now think that, gee I guess it is warming up after all, and that's a good thing! 


The other point to notice is just how messy the ownership issue is. The five principal players are Russia, Canada, the US, Denmark, and Norway. There is currently a dispute over the Lomonosov Ridge , and whether it is an extension of Russia's continental shelf. If so, Russia gets just a whopper of a piece of the big pie.


Of course, the others will do just fine - including the Heathen Selfish Socialist Billionaire Fishermen Who Come From the Place Where It Rains Too Much . Kind of makes me feel now, that my poverty-stricken ancestors made a big mistake coming to the US of A, but then Grandmom wouldn't have met Granddad and I wouldn't be here, or somebody else would.


Honestly, not much to do except recognize that Yamburg ("In Yamburg, frost bites you!") may become a port of call and tourist destination. Maybe I should brush up on my Russian? Or maybe I should buy some land up near Seattle - seeing as it will soon be the next Cabo san lucas.


Cabo is so 90s anyway...

I Need To Be More Of A Two-Legged Animal

...and, paradoxically, doing so would make me more human. 


(Because, you know, lately, the boogeyman has been checking for me under his bed).


I'm thinking about that five mile run I did on Wednesday. You know, once I worked myself past the initial discomfort and suffering, and just settled into the whole experience of running, it was... joyful.


It was flying. And you would think that the animal reference involves shutting down the front part of the brain, of getting back to some primal experience, when in fact it is nothing at all like that.


It is a sensual experience. You are, formerly just a disembodied and angry ghost, fully re-engaged in your body. But not thoughtless, not the unthinking Be-Here-Now we ascribe to the animal. But fully conscious of your internal and external states. 


The speaking part of the brain is not silenced. Instead, it participates in the experience in kind of a happy babble, like a three-year-old, commenting upon each event. Sights, smells, sounds. Especially smells, the smell of late summer, of growth slowly turning towards autumn, of pungent and fecund life all about you. And sights.


I recall running through a mid-to-young growth park and forest area on the northwest corner of the campus. Parkland, with trees spaced apart among the grass just right, sun and shadow perfectly proportioned, at least according to my evolution-honed senses and aesthetic.


"Oak tree!" I remember thinking to myself.


Now, it seems quite a silly thing to think. Yet at the time, this simple recognition evoked such a profound chain of thought that it is hard to now recount it. It involved such a connection to the world, such a deep affection with all the life around me, the sky, the sun, the air, the shadows, the palpable vitality of the flesh and the earth, that if I could but adequately describe you would possibly weep with joy.


Yes, and it was not simply hedonism, not simply just sensualism, the intellect was fully involved, engaged, enamored, chattering away happily, and in concert with the experience.


If I but had some telepathic way of relating this experience, you'd understand.


But I think, being human, you do.    

Something Positive, For A Change

I pointed this out to the ceramics professor yesterday, and his reaction to my observation was "Why, I think it is excellent".

So, I tried it again today, with one of my student aides, and his reaction was the same. So what was so excellent?

Witness, I am in the college's cafeteria, having purchased my food and waiting for others to join me. I scan the crowd, and a smile slowly spreads over my face. It is packed in the cafeteria, not surprisingly as it is lunch. And, for the most part, I am struck by what a good-looking group of kids there are in the crowd.  And I also notice that this handsome crowd has practically every nationality and ethnic group represented - African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Hispanics, Whites, you name it.

But that's not what I'm smiling about. What I'm smiling about is the fact that they are intermingled at every table.

You see, when I was a kid, you would see the same representative diversity - but they would all be segregated at their own tables. Blacks would be at a black table. Asians at their table, etc. And that was a mere thirty years ago or so.

But these kids, they are all... well, they are looking mighty American. What America is supposed to be.

And that's what I observed, what I liked, what I commented on.

It makes me hopeful. It makes me optimistic. It makes me think that it is a very, very good start.

Maybe our country is finally growing up.

One can hope.