Yes, you have seen the Tissot before, I may have even used the Degas ballerinas as well. But why not? One of the perogatives of inventing an artform (or coming up with a gimmick, if you want) is that I can make up my own rules. And according to my rules, if it's interesting or beautiful, do it.
I've been thinking about my art in a different way in the past 24 hours. After my lovely date yesterday with Mr. Colorado (yes, in on a layover, or laidover, in this case), I came back home and closed the shutters and turned on the A/C. It was unseasonably hot, the Thai Food festival just a block away made traffic impossible (and the amount of trash I found on my route this morning criminal)--- there was nothing to do but pop in a movie. I rented Atonement.
Apart from the story itself, which is original and compelling, the overarching theme of the movie asks us to look at how the artist uses art. The author within the movie is using her writing to atone for a terrible miscarriage of justice for which she is responsible. But Ian McEwan, who wrote the book, seems also to be saying, I too write to atone, And I create characters who allow you, the reader/viewer, the emotional response of " I too have done terrible things for which I am ashamed, but I am not a bad person, I need forgiveness." He seems to be blurring the line between your response to the work and the work itself. I felt like he was grabbing me and saying "Can't you see, you and I are the same. What binds us as humans is so much more than what separates us."
I was contemplating all of this last night when Sheria unveiled her video project, (see previous post). As I watched it, I saw that the artistic dialectic I had experienced in Atonement also occurs in my work. I was inspired by art and I in turn inspired art. There are emotional impulses and responses infusing all of it, in both directions, which in turn become part of the works themselves, just as how you feel moved by certain music becomes indistinguishable from the music itself.
I found myself moving several steps away from the idea that periodically encroaches on my thinking, the sense that in a world of suffering, art is a luxury at best, an elitist indulgence at worst.
No, today I feel rather that art the ultimate form of communication, even perhaps the only sane response to an insane world.
MOC 2008
That's it exactly. Art in its many forms is the ultimate communication. I love Italian opera, particularly Puccini. I don't speak Italian, did not grow up listening to opera, but the first time that I heard a Puccini aria, I was enchanted; it spoke to me. I think that art connects us to the best parts of ourselves as human beings. Your creative works inspired me to engage in my own creative endeavor. I became totally engrossed in my little project and felt exhilirated when I completed it. I would have said that I had looked at all of your Hy-Art in detail before yesterday, but I found myself examining them anew as I chose the order in which I wanted to present them, grouping them based on some visual sequence that I had in my head. Thank you for the inspiration.
i really love art in a series. and it would seem that this and the former would fit that bill.
atonement was a very thoughtful piece in my eyes. i had been unsure until vanessa redgrave popped onto screen and then i silently pledged allegiance to the production. and i realized one of the themes had to do with acceptance. acceptance of the fact that some things that happen in life just cannot be rewritten. and some may take a lifetime (or more) to digest. some hurt stays.
now about mr. colorado.....?????