Wednesday, March 1, 2017

My angle on art is that it's a visual thing. it's about visual communication, but I believe it's more than that cuz I'm using written communication to say that, and written communication being visual communication's competitor, I think we can count on it selling visual communication short as much as it can get away with it when you put all the linguistics together. Now if I do manage to communicate my true idea in spite of committing treason against the act of writing in doing so, than it almost seems like my idea can't hold water. But if I don't convince you then I urge you to be wary because it could be because I'm right.

Even the words "visual communication" sound so dull and academic and artless. The point is to get an idea across. And there, "idea" feels so malnourished and sexually depressed. Meanwhile, if I say art, it's almost worse, as I trudge forward through this linguistic sabotage built in from the beginning. "art" is self congratulatory and lazy and greedy and hedonistic.

But the reality that I know because it's the reality that I've experienced is just the opposite. And it's words that frame visual communication in this way and give it a bad name. But it is art that must be beautiful and must communicate. Words are not beautiful for a number of reasons if you need to be convinced. Letters are the most cold and dead of cold dead symbols, and we put them together to make words, also cold and dead, that we put together to make figures of speech, cold and dead, and these are combined to make philosophies, maybe the least cold and dead of all that's cold and dead, but I expect as soon as these have lost their power they will become cold and dead and take the second tier once occupied by figures of speech, and the whole system will be reclassified. Meanwhile the realm of art where from idolatry birthed written characters is alive and well. Be not fooled.

The way we now view television is the way we once viewed movies is the way we once viewed books. It's all candy. Be not fooled. Open your eyes literally, and see beauty and create beauty. There's no better way to live.