Where I Stand
The question of where I stand seems to be a simple question, but yet the exact coordinates of where I stand are hard to pin down. The question and aim of locating yourself is very much a question bound by spiritual and philosophical examinations of the human condition and our own existence. Being human, it would be ignorant to not recognize the external irrational forces that outline common human tendencies and habits that are evident in the patterns of history. Being who we are and struggling to understand the irrational forces that have outlined all of history, humans have sought to understand themselves through art and religion. Chris Hedges describes ‘religion and art to be in fact very similar as they both deal with the irrational.’ Hence by self-examining these questions of self-relevance through the lens of ‘art’ or ‘religion,’ many will learn that it can really tell a lot about where a person stands in the world.
What is the purpose of life? As a human being, I pose the same old metaphysical questions of life that humans have all asked before. It seems to be the underlining question of our existence. Only until we face the inevitable moment of truth, uncovering our own mortality from beneath the immortal veil of capitalist society, do we feel most the need to justify our belonging and relevance to the world. Intrinsic to human nature, humans have left marks in order to satisfy the yearning for self-relevance and the desire for a role in the story that we all share. We have left physical marks in the walls of Lascaux France. We have left landmarks as we divided and conquered the land. We have marked canvases with paint illuminating human complexities. Both literally and figuratively we as human beings have marked the earth with the proof of our existence as a species in attempt to satisfy our subconscious dreams. And now more than ever, in a world where gossip is the only thing that seems to matter, where celebrities mark our visual world, I along with many strive to find a place.
These historic ‘mark makings’ are in essence ‘art.’ Likewise, art in essence is simply a mark left behind made to satisfy our intrinsic desires; the desires to be known, to be important, to be relevant, to communicate, and to be a part of the human story. Hence, What I dream of is what all humans dream of, the dream of eternal life promised to us by our Gods. I want to live on like our memories of the Great Romans. I want my footprint to be immune to the high-tides of the sea. I dream of being relevant.
As a result of this self centred human notion and characteristic, artists have lived within the preconception of the artist as isolated in their studio immersed in their own world. while not only a trait of ‘the artist’, this intrinsic way of being has lead to a society and world centred around the gluttonous desires of our stomachs and self congratulations of ourselves. Not only has it created problems of poverty and corruption on a global stage, but it has also lead to the construction of the ideologically charged white walls of the museums and galleries, where we compete to win into these institutions. Musician and song writer Leonard Cohen helps demystify the human condition as he realized when he became a monk that, ‘life became a lot easier when I had no longer expected to win. You abandon your masterpiece and sink into the real masterpiece.’ This ‘real masterpiece’ is what I have come to understand as our collective story of the human race where life isn’t concerned with the mark you or I make, but rather concerned with the mark that we leave.
The problem with western art is its division over its meaning and the division between high art and low art, where one is seen to be better than the other. Rather than unifying the world through beauty, this categorization of human creation has lead to tensions of binary divisions and stereotypes. What also bothers me is the insignificance that the white walled galleries hold. The fact that they remain considerably empty says something important about the problem of high art. As cathartic and beautiful as it may be, the disengagement with the public majority remains. It no longer has the same significance as it did during the French Revolution. It seems to have now taken an academic role as galleries cover walls with theory and information at exhibit entrances acting almost as warning signs to the average on looker. People often look at contemporary works of art, when they have to, looking puzzled and confused, asking ‘what does it mean?’ until shortly there after brushing it aside to no avail. Although these short attention spans and attitudes seem ignorant, it is necessary to realize that these are the times we live in. I am by no means trying to discredit the art galleries, what I am trying to deconstruct is the current way of seeing which has lead me to question the way of now and the traditional ways of putting out art. A true artist should be able to find and create discourse in the streets, and not rely on the white walls to contextualize a way of seeing.
In order to unite the divided art world, we must dismiss ‘The Canon’ definitions of art and erase the ideologically charged walls of the art institutions to find a common ground and realize the simple beauty within the shared human experience. The key to the common ground is the ability to see beauty everywhere within the shared human experience, even within the gum covered streets. "The dark constellations made by gum on the sidewalk have a logic that is not always apparent to us. Chaos theory and fractal equations help us to see the underlyining structure in their seeming randomness" (Byrne 4), because, “when you see beauty everywhere in everything, your soul is set free.” (Local Colour, 2008), and you are able to feel a great overwhelming sense of an emotional catharsis.
Much like religion, art is seen by many as a conduit for the progression of morality by pushing our boundaries through not just art discourse but through what I refer to as human discourse. As the world’s boundaries have shifted, the art world’s white walled boundaries have not. The gallery space has become a dead zone for art as it holds a predetermined audience containing an already enlightened creative class of intellectuals and artists who’s boundaries have already been pushed and broken.This has lead to the sense that traditional art is dead, and that there are no heroes there. Rather than dismissing those who role their eyes at the sight of contemporary art as ignorant people, if what we create is truly art, we should have the courage to step away from the gallery and show the world’s beauty in today’s common ground of the streets and digital world of the internet. The internet of which has experienced an upsurge in creative growth with such websites such as YouTube and Flickr where the whole world now has a new potential to connect and share their human experiences with the entire world.
As a result of this overwhelming amount of possibilities to leave our marks and to share our stories and experiences, the dilemma of what method, what tool, or what technology to best communicate with others has occupied my mind for some time. Through time I have come to realize designer Karim Rashid’s perception of being to ‘just let art happen.’ There’s no one way to communicate. Some may say that talking is the best way, but that doesn’t even suffice, as verbal communication in it itself holds cultural limits and boundaries. What I strive for are means of communication that know no boundaries such as soccer as everybody understands the unspoken language of soccer. Place a ball on the ground and everybody will know what to do. We cannot control the external forces that we are subject to such as our parents, our upraising, our social class, and our location. Hence we should use what is made available, because everything is a tool for human mediation. Create and communicate within the forces that we are subjected to. Whether rich or poor, pencil or paint, film or internet, words or images, there is always a way to add to the collective experience of life.
‘Art’ does not take shape of a given ‘canon,’ it is simply beauty. “When you see beauty everywhere in everything, your soul is set free.” (Local Colour, 2008). There is no definition of beauty, it simply is. It cannot be contained within the constraints of a sentence. It is illusive and free. It is moments of emotional catharsis held in every aspect of life. To leave a mark (or to create art) one does not need a specific piece of technology. We can use the technological output of our tongues to compose beautiful sounds in music, the technological output of our fingers to draw a line in the sand, we can also use the technological output of our minds to unleash revolutions of ideas to be imbedded in history. All of these are technologies of marking making and ‘art’ used to communicate the human experience. What better way to share our experiences than through the mark making of the arts.
I am not an artist, I am not a poet, I am not a visionary, I am a human being. I do not make art, I leave marks. My purpose is to share the human experience from which we can further the development of the human spirit. Hence my work is not for the consumer, my work is free, and instead all I ask is for a donation for my survival as a mark maker living in a capitalist driven society. My attempt is to demystify the beauty in everything, in all forms of mark making, in the simple things, and in all of life's complexities. Such thoughts and musings on life and art have been documented on my website at www.amarkmaker.blogspot.com.
Art as mark making is a collective process and a way of leaving our mark. Although we may think of this notion as a positive romanticized notion striving toward a man made utopian paradise where all are just and rational, the marks that we have left in the art world are the most insignificant. The most significant marks that humans have left are not the pretty pictures left by the Van Gogh’s or Da Vinci’s, but rather the wars and the present climate change are what scar the earth and mark our history the most. Hence, with such issues emerging and reemerging, there are no heroes in the art world, no one can save the world with pretty pictures and odd objects, so “why bother with ‘art’?” However ignorant this may be, it is a question that I have struggled with as an ‘artist’ and as a human struggling with self-relevance for some time. It centers around the notion of leaving my mark, the desire to be someone of importance and relevance, but if my ‘marks’ cannot save the world, then why bother? If art cannot save the world then maybe we should revert to science and rational ways of seeing, which seems to be the only thing relevant in solving these problems. But I have come to realize that it is in precisely during these times when the world experiences strife and despair that the role of the artist is most clear and looked upon. ‘The job of the artist is to uplift man’s soul’ (Local Colour, 2008). No single discipline can solve these problems. All people from various streams of life are needed as it is a collective effort. Throughout human discourse the world has relied on the artists’ insight of beauty to demystify the human condition and to uplift the human soul.
In conjunction to notions of strife and despair “being a human being is knowing that life is short” (Local Colour, 2008), with life being a temporary presence, it is safe to say that no religion and no rational science will save us from our temporality on earth. The marks we leave are temporary, they exist only as long as we do. The drive to create should not be a drive to create but rather a drive to communicate with others, to play with others, to cry with others, and to live with others. The most we can do is share this unique human experience. Demystify the present beauty that we have become oblivious to and realize the colour that a lover’s lips leave, realize the colour of joy that playing brings, and realize the colour in the togetherness of life. Being human is not a question of ‘I’ but rather a notion of ‘us.’ Hence where I stand is where you stand. Where I stand is where we live and breathe. Where I stand is in the midst of the story of the human race.
Works Cited
Byrne, David. Arboretum. 1st Ed. San Francisco: McSweeney's Books, 2006.
Local Colour. Dir. George Gallo. Perf. Armin Mueller-Stahl, Trevor Morgan, Ray Liotta,
Charles Durning, Samantha Mathis. 35mm. Empire Film Group, 2008.
