“Art’s purpose is to sober and quiet the mind so that it is in accord with what happens." If I am attempting to avoid a problem or am trying to get what is in my mind directly on canvas, it causes so much anxiety that it becomes hard to work productively. The same occurrence happens when I visit art galleries. If I am going on assignment I tend to focus on fulfilling the assignment then the exhibits themselves but when I go the galleries for my artistic sake, whether I see good art or bad art, it affects me in different ways. When I am walking around or eating a sandwich after I've seen a few shows, my whole mood changes. I do see and think of things differently, the smallest details of life inspire me. Cage believes that art and life need to be one in the same if not close together. When I make that connection, when I put my life into my art now and vice versa the results surprise me. When I am making art and then I look at it, even if it is not yet finished, I still feel a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction. Cage has stated, “Art should spill out of just being beautiful and move over to other aspects of life so that when we are not with the art it has nevertheless influenced our actions or our responses.” If I make art in the mindset Cage suggest, I don’t see the world as my reality, I see the world as my canvas.
“Today we have an entire youth culture based in the premise of replication, which itself derives from the word “reply.” As artists we are faced with the dilemma were we must decide to take from the past or create something new that will influence the future of the art world. Picasso has said, “a good artist borrows but a great artist steals,” I do believe that we are a remix culture, whether an artist does an exact replication or a sample of something as a precipice for something new. Everything seems to have some derivation of the past, which doesn’t have to be a bad thing, but it depends on how one spins it. I have been told by many intellectuals that everything in art that can be done, in painting in particular, has already been done, and I always try to figure out what this bit of information is suppose to do for me. Sometimes I feel like I’m being told to copy when I am told that I need to reference other contemporary artists work and influences. How can I attempt to be original if it is suggested to me that my work should reflect my influences and if I don’t does that mean that I am not a good artist?
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