The Residue of Wonder: On art, artifacts and impermanence.
Dear Laurie,
If the ultimate destination of all our labor is just archeological landfill, why bother trying to make art at all?
Ethan
Dear Ethan,
Prepare yourself for some heavy philosophical shit.
I feel that there is a fundamental misunderstanding about what art is. I think that art is not a noun, but a verb. Art is a doing thing. I believe that Art is often confused with Artifact, the object or outcome of doing. And as a result we mistake the ending for the adventure. An artist is someone who arts. An artifact is the residue of that work i.e. artwork. To be a total word wanker: Art is what Artists do and Artifacts or Artwork are byproducts of these efforts.
Artifacts are not really art, like sweat is not the run. This doesn't rob them of any intrinsic value to an audience but it's an important distinction to creatives who are seeking more from their lives than the production of decorative blobs. Art galleries act like transfer stations, they’re where we hoard these remnants of creativity. In exceptional circumstances an artifact can retain the energy of its creation and emit it into an audience, like a radioactive battery. That's why some artifacts move you more than others. Because you can feel their fizz, their latent art energy emanating. Their enduring verbiness - their refusal to noun.
Call me pedantic but I think that this is where so much confusion comes from about the role and value of art in society. If artists said they were going on an exploration in search of undiscovered treasure the right wing would be more supportive. Parents everywhere would encourage their kids to abandon law and take up painting. The value of a human life would no longer be measured by their GDP. We would finally understand that the G stands for gross, as in disgusting, inedible indifference.
Ethan, none of my art will end up in landfill though the things I make might. There is no art in the landfill. It’s all just rubbish. The art has already happened, shifted and escaped. Try and think of art in more active ephemeral terms. None of it can be lost because in the doing, it’s done. Like taking a holiday photo that you’ll never look at again, art is the experience and the artifact just a souvenir.
I know it’s probably frustrating to discover that the thing you were looking for has been and gone. To find yourself earnestly pointing at a comet's tail only to discover that it has long since departed. Art is phenomenal. It cannot exist without us and it can not be inert. The outcome can be, but not the action. Something must happen, energy must be exchanged. The best artists are making absurd transformations in reality and that's why they bother. They live for those transient moments of inexplicable joy, to surrender, if briefly, to the great mess of things, and splash around. We art to escape the fundamentals of our existence and expand beyond a purely biological or capitalist narrative into a beautiful abyss.
The modern world is all ‘archeological landfill’. We dwell in the scraps bucket of humanity. As someone who loves traveling around the world looking at old broken things, I’m quite excited about adding my share to the great heap. Perhaps the dump is the great equaliser where all illusions of grandeur, value and hierarchy are stripped away. The final amalgamation. And it’s not just for art, it’s for everything. Nothing survives, even this planet will one day become intergalactic spacefill. Look at your art and then consider dinosaurs. How long shall we keep on clapping for your special pot or painting or pyramid? We are all falling like leaves into the dirt. Falling or flying, it depends on your attitude.
You don’t eat dinner so you can shit in the morning. The question isn't why to bother but why not? I've personally found the compulsion to Art is somewhere between a gift and an illness. And it's really not for everyone. If you can’t be bothered, don’t. Do something else. It’s fine. Trying to make art is like trying to breathe. It's only necessary if something is wrong with you. If you only create under the illusion of immortality, of some future accolade or financial gain then you are doomed to disappointment. I’m telling you now Ethan that nothing you make will survive eternity, so don't worry about it. We are dust on a rug. But that doesn't mean we can't party.
XL