Fashion Weak

Touristartistas. I remember at art school that there were a number of people who were there just for the social life. They were like tourists, just hanging out for awhile enjoying the exotic sights. The problem for me as I look back is that the 'tourist' was just one victim of a story about what an artist is. This story, written by people who have no interest in art or the artist has nonetheless defined and marginalized the production of artworks. Artists have been great enablers of this destructive story because we were dangled the carrot of being different, exceptional and essential. No doubt you can point to a few good men and women to prove that indeed some have grabbed that wondrous carrot.

But if art were so essential why do we live in a world mostly blind to it? It's that damn story again, the one that starts when we stop making drawings. We are purposely disconnected from perceiving our world through all of our senses and the first language of mark-making that we learned is efficiently scrubbed from our memories.

Today, after 4 hours of working at the computer without moving, my back started to ache. My body was sending me a message, reminding me that staying still is hard work. The act of standing is a feat of huge oppositional forces in the body. If you lie on your back and want to lift your legs. You may think that a message is sent from the brain to the leg muscles and they just get going. Actually, like much of the movement in the body, it begins in the core, the powerful and bundled muscles of the abdomen. First the pelvis has to be held still by the abdominal muscles, so that any Elvis-like movement is impossible and then the muscles of the thighs can use the pelvis to haul the legs up. Our bodies are pretty amazing and have learned incredibly complex movements and yet we shut down all the systems developed to make pictures at about 12 -14 years old. Our physical self informs our perception and our perception is an extension of our bodies. In a world of opposites and contrasts, night and day, warm and cool, active and repose our bodies are as linked by a similar pairing of difference and contrast.