The Illusion of Catharsis

Many are trapped in catharsis. The cathartic illusion. The feeling where one feels better, happier, some how more meaningful, connected, or somehow whole, and things begin to make sense. This feeling is now provided on a regular basis. It is embedded in every aspect of modern life, in every form of mass media, like films, newspaper stories, the Internet and most notably music in our ear-buds. Don't get me wrong, catharsis is great. But it is often an experience at a climactic end. Hence that feeling of motivation or meaning and purpose is short lived and rather than creating or manifesting our own cathartic moment, what I call a holy moment, it is fed to us. Of course it can be argued that it is necessary to revisit external cathartic moments, but the problem is, what happens when we are cathartic on a regular basis? What happens when we are always made to feel whole or connected? At the moment I tend to argue that we as a result become passive observers. We immerse ourselves and surrender ourselves to a read-only culture. A way of life in which our intentions are good and true, but any sense of having to go out and make something, make an impact or a difference, tends to be satisfied by a movie or that one great song. For example, I learn of injustices happening around the world and in light of the revolutionary attitude I turn up the volume on Coldplay's Viva La Vida, and I am overwhelmed by this heightened sense of catharsis, where I experience a rush of ideas and for whatever reason I feel content and blissful that somehow everything makes sense in that moment and that things are okey. Afterward there is a sense of satisfaction and that some sort of resolution was made as I feel in some way spent and tired of all the rapid synapses going off in my brain during that cathartic moment. But in the end nothing is actually done. Maybe a few motivational lines are written in a journal or a pretty picture gets doodled or painted, but soon afterward it is put aside while I soon after loose myself in the mumbo-jumbo of the Internet or a video game. No where is the real issue resolved. Instead what seems to happen is that the very issue of injustice becomes used to simply fuel a desire for catharsis, a selfish subconscious desire for a heightened feeling of mortality, which in turn fuels a chain reaction. Where in return the "inspirational" event simply fuels a desire to be fed, a desire to quench ones thirst, one's divine discontent, and make one's self feel better. By no means am I proposing that this trend is universal, because thank god there are those that are quite proactive in creating their own catharsis by directly dealing with issues such as an injustice and who do not feel content or satisfied with a movie, book, or painting. What I fear though is the fact that where there is one, there are often many others just like it/them. I fear that my experiences with the illusion of catharsis are shared by millions of others. I fear that the intensification of information available in conjunction with the exponential growth of technology and media outlets will in turn shape a world where humankind's innate discontents may become quickly ignored and forgotten, creating a truly passive society.

What is Art?

Even though I find this question incredibly engaging, it is evident to see that there is no right or wrong answer, as a result it always seems to lead to a dead end, and what do we get out of it? I’m not quite sure.
I find that many tend to over analyze ‘art.’ So as a result I don’t worry over what can or can not be art, because through my eyes everything is what it is, and it is beautiful for that reason.
I’m not brave enough to say that it’s a waste of time, but I will say that I find it funny or rather odd that we are constantly discussing ‘what is art?’ Is it really worth the time and effort when we could potentially be addressing more important issues, whatever they may be. So in order to do so, like many issues and moral progressions, it is essential to first establish a common ground.
This common ground that I suggest stems from where ‘art’ comes from and ‘why’ we create it. I’d like to think that everyone could agree that ‘art’ has evolved from our own existence, a footprint on our planet. It has evolved from our own subconscious and intrinsic nature to create, to make, to leave marks, to leave our mark, to mark our own existence both individually and collectively as human beings. The key word here i find is, mark, not only through a physical visual mark but also in the sense of creating an impact in a variety of realms or reality. Hence what I find most fitting for this common ground, is to think of art in the simple sense of mark making; the act of leaving our mark, or establishing a recognition of our existence. Because we seem to have this unique desire as human beings to constantly create things that mark different aspects of our existence, whether it is a signature on a painting, or designed pieces of clothing, or even a manufactured automobile, they are all markings of the human race. We like to see what we can do.

“Let art happen.” - Karim Rashid, Industrial Designer.
Just take away what you can from whatever you see, or experience. Try not to even think of it as art, but rather as some thing... if possible.

There is also the notion of the artist, which I also seem to be unsure of.
Like that word art, there are preconceptions and assumptions that people bring to it. For example when I would describe myself as an artist people think what kind of artist? What do you do? Or if for some reason embarrassed they would not ask and instead assume that I am what all artists are in their mind, for example a painter that paints landscapes and sells them. The word has so many meanings. So as a result, along with my notion of mark making, I have come to recognize myself as a mark maker that does just that, leave marks. These marks maybe as literal as simple paint marks left on a canvas or more abstract through the form of video or again, simple marks, known to be recognized as letters and languages. These in my mind are marks left by humans meant to communicate the human experience, which I find is the most that we can do in our lives, which I also believe to be our sole purpose on this planet. Share and communicate the human experience. But because mark making is intrinsic to all humans, rather than introducing myself as a mark maker or even an “artist”, I would go further (or backwards) to say that:
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 this society.

However abstract this may seem:

If art/mark making is a product of life, and life is experienced and not done, then we should not do art but instead experience art/ be art. I would go even further to say:

I don’t do, I be.