Dec 12, 2008

26 notes

Disaster, Art, Life

squashed:

Mills wrote eloquently on artists desiring disaster as a way to return to reconnect with most human and the most real. Read it. But in doing so, he writes, “Without it, their art has nothing to discuss and descends into the mire of self-referentiality that makes so much contemporary creative work duller than pop-culture (and less enduring!).”

Here Mills and I part. My favorite artists are the postmodernists, who write stories within other stories. They offer the intellectual base to make irony a viable trend—but too often those who want the affectations of art without the passion miss the seriousness of the project.

Postmodernism plays with meaning. The figurative becomes literal. Convention expands and explodes. The artist shines a light through the structures we have built to make ourselves comfortable. Art becomes the disaster that reconnects us with our humanity.

I love those two last lines; and it does not mean (I think) the art needs to be about disaster/ catastrophy.

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  1. notemily reblogged this from brocatus and added:
    This resonates with me. It reminds me of being a kid and thinking a tornado warning was thrilling rather than...
  2. squashed reblogged this from mills and added:
    Mills wrote eloquently on artists desiring...return to reconnect
  3. dhk reblogged this from msbadkittie
  4. collectingraindrops reblogged this from mills
  5. sympathyfortheartgallery reblogged this from squashed and added:
    it does not mean (I think)...be about disaster/ catastrophy.
  6. brocatus reblogged this from mills and added:
    though catastrophe. Although it’s harder...people will appreciate.
  7. scttkrkwd reblogged this from jeffmiller and added:
    not to mention the people paying artists were usually churches. they didnt necessarily paint what they felt or wanted.
  8. jeffmiller reblogged this from mills and added:
    why artists used to be...infatuated with religion … biblical stories
  9. yooniverse reblogged this from mills
  10. kat52982 reblogged this from mills
  11. msbadkittie reblogged this from mills
  12. mills posted this
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