From: <a href="/blend/av.cgi?id=4">TJ Holland</a><BR>
Date: 24 April 2002<P>

Oh, Gala ~ Roger's Jolly....I think I know what you are talking about. (Here's where I get the heebie jeebies. Tread carefully lest I have to fly through the clouds to save you from pirates making you walk the plank at sword point....makes my blood turn to jelly just thinking of it.) And mail me, girl. Let me know what's going on.<BR>
<BR>
B.K. ~ I never intended to scare anyone. 'Course, this Board is not just for nicey-nice and rosey roses. It's not for being mean either. A portion of the glory of art is the reaction to the work. That was mine. (one of them)<BR>
<BR>
And Jack ~ I'll keep ya!<BR>
<BR>
-Teej<BR>
<BR>
"Fine art, that exists for itself alone, is art in a final state of impotence. If nobody, including the artist, acknowledges art as a means of knowing the world, then art is relegated to a kind of rumpus room of the mind and the irresponsibility of the artist and the irrelevance of art to actual living becomes part and parcel of the practice of art." <BR>
-Al Capp<BR>
<BR>
"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep." <BR>
-Scott Adams
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From: <a href="/blend/av.cgi?id=4">TJ Holland</a><BR>
Date: 24 April 2002<P>

"Art, like morality, consists in drawing the line somewhere."<BR>
-Gilbert K. Chesterton
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From: <a href="/blend/av.cgi?id=8">Ali</a><BR>
Date: 24 April 2002<P>

TJ~<BR>
<BR>
Those are great quotes...*smile*<BR>
<BR>
Jack~<BR>
<BR>
My dear sir, we are not stuck with you...We've gotten pretty used to having you around...I daresay that we all just might like you...*smile* Glad to hear that you'll be around for a while...<BR>
<BR>
Love and unanswered wonder, Ali
<HR>
From: <a href="/blend/av.cgi?id=268">Misti</a><BR>
Date: 24 April 2002<P>

Kick ass quotes, Teej. Yes! I saw some paintings at the Met that truly disgusted and angered me. They were just one single color on canvas. I saw this guy staring at them like they were all deep and shit. I said,"One color on canvas is not art" and walked on. Of course art is subjective, but give me a fucking break. Painters, writers and filmmakers should at least try to transcend. But we will always have one color on canvas "paintings," Britney Spears lyrics and crap movies like "Black Dog." If that is arrogant of me, so be it. I have strong opinions and I express them from time to time.
<HR>
From: <a href="/blend/av.cgi?id=23">Kirk</a><BR>
Date: 24 April 2002<P>

I dunno Misti, I think you're being kind of hasty.<BR>
<BR>
I've always taken the view that art is what you can get away with; this judgement kind of defers to "authority", or at least to a kind of consensus.  If it's in the Met, I'm gonna assume there's something going on here: someone, and probably multiple someones more studied in the history and meaning of art than me, has decided it's worth placing in such a prestigous location, even if its value isn't obvious to the casual viewer.  Sometimes it's as much about a relationship with the viewer, or the space, or even the frame, than it is in and of itself.  (Sort of a reverse of the proccess that goes: "I have here a plate of food!  (dumps into sink) Voila! Now it's garbage!")
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From: <a href="/blend/av.cgi?id=4">TJ Holland</a><BR>
Date: 24 April 2002<P>

"Art is an invention of aesthetics, which in turn is an invention of philosophers... What we call art is a game."<BR>
<BR>
-Octavio Paz<BR>
<BR>
I agree that frame/space/relationship with viewer etc. can be a strong function of art. And actually Misti DID have a relationship with that one-color-canvas. She hated it. I would have too. Is it art? Does putting something into an art gallery or a frame (or by pen to paper) make it art? (not that you said it does, Kirk. But I like the train of this discussion) For example: If I cut out my living room wall, made myself all eccentric, and convinced someone at the Met to hang my wall on THEIR wall in an aesthetically pleasing setting, would it be art? Of course I could talk about the tyranny of my culture and the restrictions that my living room wall places on me and say that I cut out the wall to express my move toward the inherent freedom I was born with before walls were placed around me. Would it THEN be art? It would be CREATIVE, but is it ART? Similarily, if I am walking down a trail and come across a dead bird that has been mashed into the ground by the feet of hikers before me, and I look closely at the mashed bird and see patterns and colors that touch something deep inside me that brings me to a profound awareness of the fragility of life and the hidden beauty of tragedy, and the brutality of man then is that mashed bird art? Or is it only art if I collected it up, put it into a glass cube...or painted it's likeness on canvas... and put it on display at a gallery where others may come to the same profound awareness that I did that day on the trail? So I suppose the question asked of so many artists and has remained unanswered is this...What is art?<BR>
<BR>
"The history of modern art is also the history of the progressive loss of art's audience. Art has increasingly become the concern of the artist and the bafflement of the public." <BR>
<BR>
"In art, all who have done something other than their predecessors have merited the epithet of revolutionary; and it is they alone who are masters." <BR>
<BR>
-Paul Gauguin<BR>
<BR>
"Very few people possess true artistic ability. It is therefore both unseemly and unproductive to irritate the situation by making an effort. If you have a burning, restless urge to write or paint, simply eat something sweet and the feeling will pass."<BR>
<BR>
-Fran Lebowitz<BR>
<BR>
Ah, things that make you go "Hmmmm..."
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From: <a href="/blend/av.cgi?id=8">Ali</a><BR>
Date: 24 April 2002<P>

Misti~<BR>
<BR>
<a href="/blend/wv.cgi?id=2002.04.24.07.23.29745">I'll Love Me Enough For You</a> was freakin' fantastic!! Damn, that's a such a great poem...*smile* Excellent writing...<BR>
<BR>
Love and unanswered wonder, Ali
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From: <a href="/blend/av.cgi?id=757">Caravan of Dreams</a><BR>
Date: 24 April 2002<P>

<BR>
ART is anything you can get away with.<BR>
<BR>
                          - Anon.
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From: <a href="/blend/av.cgi?id=328">Rhetoric</a><BR>
Date: 24 April 2002<P>

Misti:<BR>
I'll Love Me Enough For You...I loved this one from you.  You always strike me as VERY self-actualized (even if most of your posts aren't directly about you).  I can totally relate to this one...I am, to quote a past Blenderite, a "Harem of women all wrapped into this single form."  I can be all those things you described and more.  Some call it flighty, I prefer flamboyant.  Misti, your stuff just plain rocks this party.  Tell her Chris!<BR>
<BR>
Megs: BTW, I am in Morganhole today for a couple meetings...what about those D's you wanted me to take care of?  Just Kidding - I have no pull with any faculty (unless you are a nutrition science major).  Not likely, huh?  God, I absolutely hate college towns (except Blacksburg, Va).  They are so freakin hard to park in!  One of my very good pals from home went to Tufts for undergrad and she laughs when she hears the rest of us talking about parking and apt rent - Boston is no town to be a poor college student in.  At least in Morgantown you can still get a plate of black beans and rice for $3.50!<BR>
<BR>
Bye Bye, Rhet
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From: <a href="/blend/av.cgi?id=638">Hopeful</a><BR>
Date: 24 April 2002<P>

Rhet- <BR>
If you have a spare minute drop by the Gap.  I will be blissfully meeting the denim needs of the masses from 3-11.  It would be cool to see the real life face of a Blenderite.  I INSIST you visit.  If you ask for Hopeful/Megs the might look at you funny...the wouldn't be smart enough to make the leap in logic that leads Megs to Megan.  Retail is so humbling.<BR>
<BR>

<HR>
From: <a href="/blend/av.cgi?id=268">Misti</a><BR>
Date: 24 April 2002<P>

Ali and Rhet~<BR>
Thanks for the compliments! My latest reminds me of From Depraved to CRAVED, a poem I submitted back in 99. My poems are much stronger than I am when it comes to matters of the heart. <BR>
<BR>
Kirk~<BR>
I see your point. I have never studied art history so I realize I am not an authority. I'm sure the people running the Met know more about art than I do. When I saw those paintings, all I saw was pretension. I don't think of frames. Most of the art displayed in my apartment is thumbtacked to the wall. It brings to mind the whole Emperor's New Clothes thing..."He's the Emperor, so of course he wouldn't parade around naked! Something must be wrong with our eyes!" I don't have a healthy respect for most authority. But you know, I've never cared for the Mona Lisa or most of Picasso's stuff, either. John Lennon and Yoko Ono ate chocolate cake in a bag and called it art. John later admitted that "avant garde is French for bullshit." I think he just went along with it 'cause he was so crazy about Yoko, but John Lennon was a salt of the earth no bullshit Liverpudlian.<BR>
<BR>
Teej~<BR>
Yes, art is everywhere. Speaking of dead birds, the kids have found three dead birds on the playground since I started there. I don't know what's up with that. I think my PEZ dispensers are art. I'm into the whole kitsch thing...toys, tacky souvenirs, Mardi Gras beads and fake leis. I display all of that stuff as art. I display my own stuff which would probably never sell...magazine clipping collages, abstract Crayola pictures, childlike abstract paintings. On the wall above our bed we've thumbtacked three different album covers..."South Pacific," Glenn Miller and a grandma in blue gingham and horn-rimmed glasses holding an apple pie that advertises some obscure radio station. I think that guy in "American Beauty" had the right idea, too- videotaping white paper blowing around. There is so much art that can't be captured. And that's fine. Just observing it and appreciating it is enough.
<HR>
From: <a href="/blend/av.cgi?id=268">Misti</a><BR>
Date: 24 April 2002<P>

Ali and Rhet~<BR>
Thanks for the compliments! My latest reminds me of From Depraved to CRAVED, a poem I submitted back in 99. My poems are much stronger than I am when it comes to matters of the heart. <BR>
<BR>
Kirk~<BR>
I see your point. I have never studied art history so I realize I am not an authority. I'm sure the people running the Met know more about art than I do. When I saw those paintings, all I saw was pretension. I don't think of frames. Most of the art displayed in my apartment is thumbtacked to the wall. It brings to mind the whole Emperor's New Clothes thing..."He's the Emperor, so of course he wouldn't parade around naked! Something must be wrong with our eyes!" I don't have a healthy respect for most authority. But you know, I've never cared for the Mona Lisa or most of Picasso's stuff, either. John Lennon and Yoko Ono ate chocolate cake in a bag and called it art. John later admitted that "avant garde is French for bullshit." I think he just went along with it 'cause he was so crazy about Yoko, but John Lennon was a salt of the earth no bullshit Liverpudlian.<BR>
<BR>
Teej~<BR>
Yes, art is everywhere. Speaking of dead birds, the kids have found three dead birds on the playground since I started there. I don't know what's up with that. I think my PEZ dispensers are art. I'm into the whole kitsch thing...toys, tacky souvenirs, Mardi Gras beads and fake leis. I display all of that stuff as art. I display my own stuff which would probably never sell...magazine clipping collages, abstract Crayola pictures, childlike abstract paintings. On the wall above our bed we've thumbtacked three different album covers..."South Pacific," Glenn Miller and a grandma in blue gingham and horn-rimmed glasses holding an apple pie that advertises some obscure radio station. I think that guy in "American Beauty" had the right idea, too- videotaping white paper blowing around. There is so much art that can't be captured. And that's fine. Just observing it and appreciating it is enough.
<HR>
From: <a href="/blend/av.cgi?id=4">TJ Holland</a><BR>
Date: 24 April 2002<P>

Misti ~ when I saw that video of the paper blowing in the wind I was exceptionally moved. It mesmerized me. It seems strange to think that was in the movie American Pie, which I thought was a very crass and juvenile movie for the most part. <BR>
<BR>
I suppose an artist is someone who sees the world in a more comprhensive way than other people, then endeavors to record what he has seen, and in doing so reveals more than his own perception. <BR>
<BR>
Anyway, I know we must not make the mistake of pronouncing a thing true art on the sole basis of our personal affinity toward it.  Art is more than the creation of something...it is the intent behind the creation, perhaps. Like the man who covered houses with cheese and called it art was somehow different from the man who went out behind the barn and threw cowpies at the wall every time he was angry. <BR>
<BR>
-Teej<BR>
<BR>

<HR>
From: <a href="/blend/av.cgi?id=757">Caravan of Dreams</a><BR>
Date: 24 April 2002<P>

gosh i wish i wuz a up in mo'ho acting like a fly on the wall of the gap<BR>
a love connecione!<BR>
brava! brava!<BR>
<BR>
cod darned jeolous<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
ps - art is a dirty business but somebody has to do tit
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From: <a href="/blend/av.cgi?id=757">Caravan of Dreams</a><BR>
Date: 24 April 2002<P>

i said tit<BR>
heh heh heh<BR>
meant it, k?<BR>
<BR>
be nice to that youngun jen, k?<BR>
<BR>
cod<BR>
<BR>
(what out grrl, thays in one of em CULTS fer wimens!)
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From: <a href="/blend/av.cgi?id=13">B.K.</a><BR>
Date: 24 April 2002<P>

Painting is silent poetry and poetry is painting that speaks.<BR>
Simonides (6th centruy B.C.)<BR>
<BR>
Art is the lie that enables us to realize the truth.<BR>
Pablo Picasso<BR>
<BR>
Art-speech is the only truth. An artist is usually a damned liar, but his art, it it be art, will tell you the truth of his day.<BR>
D.H. Lawrence<BR>
<BR>
All the really good ideas I ever had came to me while I was milking a cow.<BR>
Grant Wood<BR>
<BR>
All our knowledge has it's origins in our perceptions.<BR>
Leonardo da Vinci<BR>
<BR>
bk<BR>
<BR>

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From: <a href="/blend/av.cgi?id=744">jimmyallgrownup</a><BR>
Date: 24 April 2002<P>

Art? Mmm. I remember Art. He was tall--but not TOO tall--and a sheer stunner ripped right from the pages of Esquire. I was fairly dumbstruck as I watched him explicate Donne's sonnnets in English Lit III 1/2. That was a hard class (hehe) and it turned out that I needed some help... Fortunately, Art was more than willing to assist after class and on the weekends. ANYHOW, to make a long and rather seedy story a little shorter, at the end of the day he tells me that I met him at a "transitional" period in his life--and he was now on to some other "period." Of course. Naturally. As for that other Art, I can only quote my man Euripides: <BR>
<BR>
"Art is a hammer<BR>
no<BR>
art is a mirror wait<BR>
damn art<BR>
is a hammer yeah<BR>
art is a mirror<BR>
art<BR>
is<BR>
a<BR>
dirty<BR>
biness<BR>
but<BR>
some<BR>
bunny<BR>
gotta<BR>
do<BR>
it"
<HR>
From: <a href="/blend/av.cgi?id=328">Rhetoric</a><BR>
Date: 24 April 2002<P>

Megs...I didn't check my mail before I left today.  That would have been cool if we could have chatted for a few.  However, you are probably 19, perky, with freckles, and a pony tail!  Not that ANY of those qualities is bad...as a tall, goofy-looking kid - I resented all the petite cute ones!  I would really feel like a complete dork prancing my 27 year-old ass into The Gap and asking for you. Next time, I will give more warning (through email) and maybe if your classes permit, we can grab some coffee or lunch. What is with all those halter tops at The Gap - WHO wears them?<BR>
<BR>
Just Some Girl:<BR>
New post...has me wondering.  Since the blender is the only place I hear from you these days, explain a bit - if you want. Is it a metaphor?  The title, I mean...not the actual post.<BR>
<BR>
TJ and BK - thanks for the thought provoking quotes on art.  Can we really define what art truly means to us as a culture?  <BR>
<BR>
Bye, <BR>
Jennifer Irene - admittedly NOT an art major
<HR>
From: <a href="/blend/av.cgi?id=5">jackryhme</a><BR>
Date: 24 April 2002<P>

hmmm art....<BR>
that which defines feelings for ones self?<BR>
artist<BR>
one's who can define their feelings to others?<BR>
 maybe... ya think?
<HR>
From: <a href="/blend/av.cgi?id=4">TJ Holland</a><BR>
Date: 24 April 2002<P>

You know, I tend to be a movie illiterate. In the last two years I have endured (and enjoyed) my friend's missions...Educating Teej in Cinema. I am proud to say that I have seen many of the movies that the pop culture talks about today. Though apparently the fact that I haven't seen Princess Bride causes jaws to drop, eyes to google, and total strangers to loudly exclaim, "WHAT??!! You haven't seen Princess Bride??!!" That's my eclectic education for you!  No wonder it seemed strange to think that paper scene was in American Pie. It wasn't. HA!! I misread you Misti Velvet Rainwater. American Beauty. Now THAT was a movie that could be taken on two levels. It could appeal to a general audience as nothing more than a story of a frustrated man going through a mid-life crisis...or one could see the deeper content in it and realize how truly profound it's message really is. <BR>
<BR>
-Teej
<HR>
From: <a href="/blend/av.cgi?id=670">Jennifer</a><BR>
Date: 24 April 2002<P>

Mr.Du'Doll~When I read <a href="/blend/wv.cgi?id=2002.04.24.18.50.29267">My last words</a> I couldn't help but wonder how serious you were and if this wasn't some kind of cry for help??? I do hope everything is okay with you! But on another note...I did like the poem.<BR>
<BR>
Jackrhyme~ahhh....my kind sir, as always I found your writing very intriguing! I loved "Wintered Part Of Self" Great Job!<BR>
<BR>
B.K.~"Reflections Of You".....too sweet! I loved it!<BR>
<BR>
Bed time now.....<BR>
Lots Of Love And Luck!<BR>
Jennifer<BR>

<HR>