Creativity and conflict
March 23, 2008
by Eric Brown
Ah, remember the days when the summers were carefree, MTv was still cool, and whatever was on the news really didn’t matter? Well, those days are over. Oh, not just for you and me, for your kids, for their kids, for their grandkids. And it’s been over longer than you think…
Thursday, March 20 2008 marked the 5 year anniversary of an invasion that should not have happened. It was an invasion begun under false pretenses, lies, and deceit (but aren’t they all); by a man who was later re-elected? What the $%@&? Is that right? This is indicative of a point of view of society in this world that is skewed.
Money vs. Morality
Artists have not gathered en mass to address these issues like they used to in days past. What have many of them done instead? Seclude themselves? Allow corporate capitalism to spread it’s poison, letting it spill over into works of art, music, and literature? There is a disparate rift on the rise. Artists seem to have separated themselves from each other instead of coming together. And now is the time to change that. In the sixties, artists were gods, now it’s looked at as a hobby. Bullshit.
Throughout history art has been a vehicle for the people’s voice. Not a pretty Thomas Kinkade, but a message. Kinkade has taken his ideal of the “perfect image” (the ideal portrayed by the US government) and created a corporation out of it.
Think about John Lennon’s music, Pablo Picasso’s “Guernica“, Walt Whitmans’ poetry. These people were part of something (or spearheaded it). But what separates them from us? What is it that makes it so we aren’t them? I believe it’s part apathy, part fear, part the fact that many of us in civilized society have forgotten we have a voice.
It was Francis Bacon who said,
“You see, painting has now become, or all art has now become completely a game, by which man distracts himself. What is fascinating actually is, that it’s going to become much more difficult for the artist, because he must really deepen the game to become any good at all.”
Art has become a distraction, a thing on a wall and thereby distracts man from the issues at hand, instead of being the method of illustrating, illuminating, opining, or creating awareness about events around the world happening right now, today.
The Kinkade’s and the pop music corporations and the governments have pushed artists into a corner, mandating what we can do, what we can say, how we can say it. Not by outright censorship (which does occur), but by using money and power and advertising to draw the eye of the public away from the truth.
They attempt (and currently are succeeding) to determine for us the paths we must take to be professionals in the arts and not hobbyists; especially where war is concerned.
We all agree (I hope) war is bad. But it is also inspiring; a time for action, renewal, growth; a vehicle for the people to speak.
Francisco Goya used these times to show the oppression and horror wrought upon people during the Peninsular Wars of 1808 (see: “The Third of May, 1808″ by: F. Goya). Picasso raised great awareness to the atrocities in Spain in the mid 1930’s with his painting “Guernica”. Who is doing what now?
These people were not born Goya or Picasso. Yes, that was their names, but essentially they meant nothing more. But, they took initiative to do the things they did; and now are known in most households in some form or another.
We Deserve To Be Heard
Aren’t you tired of the social injustices of the world? Not just in foreign lands far, far away, but right in your own backyard. Corporate capitalism drives the world, controls our environment to the nth degree. Don’t you get pissed when you tell someone you’re an artist or a writer and they treat you like you have a neat hobby? Art is a profession! And thanks to NDK, it even has its own code.
Our voice is just as important as the education, political, scientific, law, and health professions. But we aren’t being heard any more. Largely because we have lost our collective voice.
The music world is run by producers and the “all mighty dollar” (insert your currency here), poetry has become a joke to much of “civilized” society. These very same things I am talking about are the reasons Iraq was invaded, money and control.
The degradation of society into a self-absorbed, self-serving, consumer machine is part of the problem. It has allowed governments and corporations to do as they please, virtually unchecked…it should be considered an atrocity.
It’s Time To Change
Up until 20 years ago, artists used to band together and put out a message, get active, try to change things. Not messages like some artists today, no, those were paid for by Chevy (or was it Ford). Oh who cares…that’s the attitude, the mentality right? Maybe you have grocery shopping or bills to pay…lawyers to keep you out of scandal or in it in order to keep your career distracting the public from what’s really going on.
I know I’ve heard this exact phrase, “Don’t you wanna save the world?” in movies and the tone is sarcastic and mocking of idealism, character, which then has the effect of disenchanting and disempowering people with the very notion of raising their voices or arms or anything against the apparently overwhelming might of the opposition; it creates a certain cheesy-ness to the idea of being proactive at all.
But by banding together , working in unison, we can begin to change the world. And that’s just what we are trying to do here; to band artists of all kinds together and give them a place for many creative voices to say it how they want…and present a united front for the issues that deeply concern us all. A voice is all MLK II had, a vision is all Picasso had, a voice is all any of us have in the end. What will you with yours?
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