Saturday - Art quote
"Real art has the capacity to make us nervous." -Susan Sontag
I'm not really the right guy to talk to about art. Or, should I say "art," since I'm not entirely sure if what I like would count as ART (the real stuff always sounds like it should be in all caps without the quotation marks around it).
I know that I love the photographs my husband takes. I love the little crayon drawings the lesbians send me when Rebecca and Jared make something for Donor Dad. I love watching Dane act and sing on stage. I think the sketches Shane does are beautiful even if he thinks I'm biased because he's my little brother. And my mother can do things with a cake that take my breath away. To me, all of that stuff is art because it makes me feel good when I see it. It's comforting.
I'm not sure that I want to feel nervous when I experience art in any form. See, that's what I mean when I say I'm not the right guy to talk to about it. Once, my best friend Peter invited me to a gallery opening for this new artist. One of the exhibits was a pig fetus attached by an umbilical cord to the Virgin Mary. I didn't get it (and thought it was stupid, honestly) but everyone was raving about it because it caused a reaction. That made me wonder, if art is just supposed to cause a reaction, how come porn isn't art? I always get a reaction when I watch it. But I digress.
I think it's unfair to distinguish art that someone like me might like versus "real" art that someone like Suzie up there might like. It's one of the things that makes normal folks think of "real" artists as snotty, entitled, egotistical brats. I think that's also unfair, though, because it's all being judgmental about something that's supposed to represent freedom of thought and expression and all the other things artists strive to create.
I like to dabble in writing. I just want what I write to keep people interested. What it makes them feel is their business, and I'm not going to say otherwise.
I'm not really the right guy to talk to about art. Or, should I say "art," since I'm not entirely sure if what I like would count as ART (the real stuff always sounds like it should be in all caps without the quotation marks around it).
I know that I love the photographs my husband takes. I love the little crayon drawings the lesbians send me when Rebecca and Jared make something for Donor Dad. I love watching Dane act and sing on stage. I think the sketches Shane does are beautiful even if he thinks I'm biased because he's my little brother. And my mother can do things with a cake that take my breath away. To me, all of that stuff is art because it makes me feel good when I see it. It's comforting.
I'm not sure that I want to feel nervous when I experience art in any form. See, that's what I mean when I say I'm not the right guy to talk to about it. Once, my best friend Peter invited me to a gallery opening for this new artist. One of the exhibits was a pig fetus attached by an umbilical cord to the Virgin Mary. I didn't get it (and thought it was stupid, honestly) but everyone was raving about it because it caused a reaction. That made me wonder, if art is just supposed to cause a reaction, how come porn isn't art? I always get a reaction when I watch it. But I digress.
I think it's unfair to distinguish art that someone like me might like versus "real" art that someone like Suzie up there might like. It's one of the things that makes normal folks think of "real" artists as snotty, entitled, egotistical brats. I think that's also unfair, though, because it's all being judgmental about something that's supposed to represent freedom of thought and expression and all the other things artists strive to create.
I like to dabble in writing. I just want what I write to keep people interested. What it makes them feel is their business, and I'm not going to say otherwise.