*Here's another interesting question from "If.." (McFarlane and Saywell). This one is one up from the bottom of page 74 and reads as follows: "If you had to choose the worst work of art ever created, what would you choose?"
I had read this question a while back and have been chasing it around in my head for a while. At first, I was just thinking of it in terms of what would be considered classic art, sculpture, painting, and the like. But then I expanded my definition to include other more performance based types of art, like dance, music, and other such things. That proved to be too much to try to consider. I just don't have a wide enough view to be able to look over so many categories and come up with a good answer. And then there are things like opera and ballet that I don't really care for. Part of the reason I don't care for them is the fact that I just don't understand them. I can appreciate the effort that goes into becoming skilled at that type of art, but I have yet to find works of it that I personally enjoy. Therefore, those types of things fall into the 'slightly dislike' category, and get discarded for the purposes of answering this question. So, we swing back more towards 'classic' art. But even as I thought about that, I began to understand how scant my knowledge was of art, even at the most broad and superficial level. That would tend to not be helpful in answering this particular question. So, I finally decided that I just have to take my tiny little sliver of knowledge and find somewhere within it the worst work of art ever. Dadaism was where my mind went at first. Now, I know it's a movement and not a specific piece of art, but I thought that would be a good starting point. And besides, even though I can see images of Dadaist pieces, I have no idea what any of them are called. I wandered into abstraction next, and then into photorealism before coming to rest in impressionism. Now, I am not a fan of impressionism in general terms. It just doesn't grab me. I did have my opinions of impressionist art altered considerably when I got to see some actual paintings by Van Gogh in person (I was in person, not Van Gogh). All of the pictures I had seen over the years did nothing to prepare me for how these things looked in real life. I was amazed, and that's another long and winding story. Most art would be things that I would be judging strictly on the basis of pictures I had seen, which, I discovered, doesn't count for a whole lot. That was something I had to take into consideration. The bulk of impressionism was still in the running for the prize, though. In my choice I figured I also had to rule out technical skill, which is something I am not qualified to judge. The actual meaning/intent of the piece was something else I knew only in very rare cases, and would be tough to use as a criteria. By this point I was quite confused, as I am quite sure you are. I had a decent handle on what I couldn't use as a basis for a judgment, but not much more. Then it hit me. One of the most dastardly works of art ever created. A technically excellent work wrapped in a subtly dark cloak of conformity and indoctrination. A lovely vision of an unproven message paid for with the blood of thousands upon thousands of people. My choice for the worst work of art ever is....coming up right after this word from our sponsors! But, since we have no sponsors, they can contribute no words that will enable me to build the tension of my revelation any further. I have to say that my choice for worst work of art ever is the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Part of the function of this work was to overwhelm the ignorant masses and push them into believing that since this was all bright, shiny, and impressive, it must be the truth (a tactic still widely in use to this very day). I'm sure there are all sorts of iconographic religious works that fall into this category from untold numbers of religions past and present from all over the world, but this is the one that I can think of by name. And I'm really not at all fond of the style that it's done in. So there you go.
*I am supposed to be in court on Monday morning. One more attempt at getting this DUI case from 3 years ago over and done with. I keep thinking my whole participation will go like this: 'Sir, do you recognize the accused?' To which I will reply, 'No.' And then the weasel defense lawyer will use the fact that I don't remember someone I may have seen for all of maybe 20 minutes 3 years ago while they were strapped to a backboard in the ED means that the State's entire case is no good. Probably end up just like the case Nikki was involved in. Someone gets drunk, drives around, smashes up a couple of cars, kills some people, and then walks. Liberty and justice for those who can afford it. I'm wondering if when I get there this time they will have continued it again without bothering to let me know like they did the last time. The only ridiculously small consolation regarding this whole situation is that it's not scheduled to start until 1030. If it starts at all.
*Average male life expectancy is 75 years and a few odd months. Therefore, in 21 days, I will have expended 53.3% of my average expected lifespan. That makes me somewhat uneasy. That whole passing of the halfway mark and all. Of course, the actual percentage of time expended could be significantly higher than that number, and could also be somewhat lower, but it's really hard to tell. At least until you drop over dead. Then it gets real easy to do the calculations. But once again that deep seated and subtly insistent urge to 'go' is starting to register in my conscious mind. Not that the 'go' part of it is a direct translation to physically move to another place. It seems to be more of a call to action. A call with a dark undertone. A call that says it's time for me to do more than sit on the couch watching VH1's 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders of the 80's while I eat cookies. Not that it would take a great leap forward to exceed that benchmark in any dimension. At least with the bar set that low it shouldn't be hard to get started.
*Got several ideas for signage at Julie's shop. Just need to do some tweaking, scaling, researching, and prototyping to see which one works best. Nothing says that there has to be only one sign, either.
*The basement is not picked up from the last gaming session, the studio is once again approaching dangerous levels of clutter, and the weather stubbornly refuses to cooperate in letting me move some of my creative efforts back into the garage. Crap. Everywhere I turn there's a mess that needs to be cleaned up. I blame society. Now I just need to figure out a way to have society come and clean my house. And while they're at it, they can tune up my lawn mower, too.
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