XTC Back Porch

miles aweigh · Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2009 4:43 pm Post subject:

cicadashell wrote:

and then, a few minutes later, he wrote:

In fact all visual arts are held to a different standard than, say music. How many people demand that every song be a definite statement of the economic and social conditions we live under. That the form of music always be subservient to the content and message? Not too many.

here you are describing a situation where people understand it is art they are dealing with, where the "form versus function" argument is irrelevant. what i fear i am seeing, and i think this at least partly what spoony was alluding to, is that as people begin to get everything from the internet, their news, their art, their history, the shoes and socks, everything, then there is a growing tendency to look at everything the same way, and to apply the same standards and values. i think that collectively we are losing our ability to think critically about issues in the absence of stimulating visual images. and, to make matters worse, the images themselves often end up front and center in our minds. it's not happening on this forum, but you know a lot of people looked at those photo essays and came away discussing only things like saturation and depth of field.

i know i am overreacting from spending too much time on the wrong internet places. i need to get away for a while.

I have to agree that I was just being defensive here. Working as an artist in a field that generally disregards social concerns directly, you develop a bunker mentality over time. The fact that visual information helps to form peoples opinions on everything, provides that there are very valid concerns about how this information is presented and used.

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miles aweigh · Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2009 4:56 pm Post subject:

Spoony wrote:

miles aweigh wrote:

In fact all visual arts are held to a different standard than, say music. How many people demand that every song be a definite statement of the economic and social conditions we live under. That the form of music always be subservient to the content and message? Not too many.

Well, that may be true, but I think the "beauty trumps humanity" instinct of artists/connoisseurs is as strong in music as it is in the visual arts. Come to my school. You'll hear hipsters bitching about how much it sucks that Isaac Brock is off smack now. Apparently his music is less appealing. You get the sense that people are glad, say, that Elliott Smith and Ian Curtis (not to mention Sylvia Plath) killed themselves. It makes for a very aesthetically pleasing story. But it's still a human life ended. When that music was in the first place supposed to be a cure for (or at least a method of dealing with) the problems that brought about their respective suicides.

That's why I remarked that it often seems that we've forgotten which is the means and which the end.

Long ago there was a thread about the Cult Of Romanticism, that dealt with similar issues, especially about the tragic lives of certain musicians. The "story" of the tragic poet/musician/artist is deeply ingrained as an archetype in our culture, and keeps playing itself out. Without an early death the "story" doesn't follow the established and expected conclusion.

I do think beauty is important, and devotion to creating it is a valid approach to existence. For the most part, however, the "story" just gets in the way, like drugs do. Dying for your art only assures you will create less.

_________________
I know what it's like to be Peter Fonda.

cicadashell · Drums and Wires Joined: 12 Aug 2009 Posts: 67

miles aweigh wrote:

I have to agree that I was just being defensive here. Working as an artist in a field that generally disregards social concerns directly, you develop a bunker mentality over time. The fact that visual information helps to form peoples opinions on everything, provides that there are very valid concerns about how this information is presented and used.

i understand the bunker thing completely. when i was quite young i split away from friends who were taken in by message-oriented music, and couldn't understand why i wanted to listen to elton john. and then i dedicated my efforts toward instrumental music - how uncool is that?! i suppose we can see for ourselves how the revolution turned out.

at some point we need to redirect this thread back to persey's original lament for her former home, although today is not a good day for me. i have so many stories about detroit, from so many years, and while i don't get over there as often as i used to i still care about it, in ways that are difficult to articulate. the place inspires many emotions; to describe my relationship as "love/hate" would be too narrow, if you follow my meaning.

i'm suddenly reminded of how disappointed i was that the

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was cancelled this year; i was so looking forward to it! well, next year for sure.