OK :: Something weird is going on in these woods. No, I am not talking about the distant gunshots in the air heard at all times, nor the silent prayers as I am climbing steep hills/mountainsides that those same hunters don't mistake your dog's white lab butt as a deer - cos they are alarmingly similar if only seen from the hind. OR even the confession to having Johnny Cash on the ipod (his latest work mostly, and as I respect his music, it is just not something that I listen to often) OR!!! even the pondering which way North Carolina went in this seemingly liberal vs. conservative election on the blue/red map.... OR!!! even to stop to think for a moment that I am a girl alone in the woods with a lot of testosterone gunmen. it is the pondering of what is art and then finding this article in the NYT (sorry, more liberal-ness) about the author of a book called "The Gift". The journalist speaks with this man about doing art, the Walden way, the social way - no isolation and then the in between way. The idea of art in the public eye when it comes to the internet - and as if there were huge "!!!!" looming everywhere here in West Jefferson, NC. And if that were not enough, I am uploading images of the art that I have been making in isolation to MySpace as we speak. (And for all of those who know me, I am still cold and currently have 3 layers on.)
OK, this is weird. I have been sitting here in the woods pondering these issues. I even posted a late night rant a couple of days before the NYT posted this article. This idea of isolation that inspires the very art that you wish the public would consume. The public does not have to be a gallery it just means something beyond you. And then to add the thought of ownership of ideas and who owns it in an economical sense, is just right on target with where my head is right now. Back in school we debated the ideas of corporate greed and such over many cocktails, etc.. including the very thought of what it means to have Philip Morris sponsor art so heavily. But where does it leave us in the age of Facebook? MySpace? Blogging? Flickr? The very idea of posting your work wipes out the idea of ownership and it enters the realm of giving and sharing. But we are in a corporate world you say? Yeah, I know.
What gives?
Hell if I know. I just look at the money that it took to get to these woods and the distance from my job and its constant "noise" to see that this is a dichotomy that no amount of Johnny Walker Black is going to solve - yep, there it is again, an allusion to $.
I need to go drink a little more, ponder some more and then I will get back to it. But in the meantime, when is work copyrighted? What does that mean anymore? I am using Buddhist and Hindu symbolism in my work right now. Is it my right to interpret that work? I guess the irony of working alone is the time that one has to manifest these ideas about public consumption. I like the idea of questioning and forming opinions on culture. I think there is huge value in it. It is inspiring that others are doing it. In fact, Malcolm Gladwell just put out another book that discusses the idea of privilege and success. Again, these things are happening all at once and I feel that the questions I am raising and the ideas that I am thinking about are right on target. Even though there are few consumers out there who care about this and even less now since we are in a recession. (Yes, Bob Bernanke, I said it, the "R" word) so shoot me, not my dog.
There you go. Once again I have said a load of nothing. But it is easy to do this without censor and with a keyboard and a sprinkling of scotch.
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