six quotes

[rough sketch for new idea... sea of pinwheels]

1. "If it were not for art, I would have killed myself a long time ago."
Yayoi Kusama, 2007 interview at ArtReview.com

There was a time when this quote was literally true for me. Art became a constructive outlet for destructive habits. Of course the specific paths that Ms. Kusama and I would have taken to our demise would have been different, but I share in her realization.

2. "... if the air was something to be earned i would be wondering whether i was

good enough to

breath



i share what i create
it is a terror it is a necessity
no matter what, i would be creating something
but here i am so public
i cannot be myself
like breathing and apologizing for using up the air
that someone may need the air more or just plain old breathe better thereby
truly deserving

air."


"fuck art", by shut up shelley from Verses That Hurt: Pleasure and Pain from the POEMFONE [via Benassi's blog]

I came across this quote, and it perfectly illustrates my doubt about whether I have anything of worth to make, to say, to do. This quote says nothing of the outcome of this fear... just very well illustrates it. There's a limited about of oxygen and energy, and I question whether my using any of it is of any worth.

3. "In the deepest darkness one is never lonely.
Loneliness comes when there is but a single light."
"AKARI" Fujii Tamotsu, text- Akiyama Shou/Translation Ronald Sternberg, Little More Publishing, 2005

While much of my work is playful, and some of it aspires to be meditative... i feel the root of it all is a deep deep loneliness. I feel that there has been a single light in my life... the memory of its presence will forever haunt me, has and will continue to motivate me to carefully examine myself, my life, and those around me through the lifestyle lens of art.

4. "Come, Nandaka,
let's give the lion's roar
face to face with all buddhas
We have done it
what the wakeful sage
spurred us on to–
we've shattered the manacles."
Bharata Speaks [Bharata - legendary hero and monarch of India]
Songs of the Sons & Daughters of Buddha
Shambhala Publications, Inc.
1996

I'm just starting to look into meditative Buddhist writings... I found this one, which captures what I'd like to do with my art/music. It seems so triumphant, so righteously defiant. Noble. Things to aspire to indeed.

5. Four things you need to know about Beijing photographer REN HANG:

"His work consistently captures the feelings and imagery of emerging youth culture in China
Most of his models are his good friends who trust him and enjoy having their pictures taken
About sex and nudity: 'There is absolutely no deeper meaning in my pictures, or at least there’s nothing really serious in them. I just love genitals and I will never take on wicked thoughts while photographing them. I just want to show a different side…and I’m really passionate about the genitals of my lover' – REN HANG for Lodown #73
Needless to say, he was officially banned from every gallery in Beijing"

This quote within a quote cracks me up. I'm sure many would argue that he just CAN'T take his point of view... but if that's how the artist ultimately honestly feels... no amount of further analysis can prove he feels otherwise. I like the simple, straightforwardness to his perspective on nudity and sex/sensuality. It's refreshing. I'd like my work to be simple and straightforward like this. Not only on the matter of sex/sensuality, but on every matter. I feel that the discourses of art tend to over complicate things in an attempt to be taking seriously, when it is exactly in the discourse of art we should find freedom to also enjoy understanding things simply and straightforwardly.

6. Our life is half natural and half technological. Half-and-half is good. You cannot deny that high-tech is progress. We need it for jobs. Yet if you make only high-tech, you make war. So we must have a strong human element to keep modesty and natural life.
Nam June Paik

I found this quote by Nam June Paik, and even though I haven't found its exact origins yet... I hold to it strongly. I feel that in the midst of all society's progress, individual independence and life more and more buffered and isolated through technology, separating barriers are built taller and more strongly; it's ever increasingly important to hold to our human condition... the things that remind us all humans are the same, and should be respected as such.