It Wasn’t Me
January 25th, 2006 -- Posted in people | 1 Comment »I caught an interesting comment from my foster-cousin Flo when my sisters and I had dinner at her place last Sunday. (Yep! You read that right. ‘Foster-cousin’. Our mom and her mom were foster sisters. Sortaf.) It was about her earnest impression of me as a young kid who could entertain himself by just quietly doodle his imaginations on a sketchbook and a pen. True, that was what I used to do when I was a kid. That was before I found the stronger expressions of words.
“Allen was the artistic one. He loves to doodle. He can easily help Annie with the graphics for her books.”
Nevertheless, I swallowed the compliment quietly.
It was not appropriate to define graphic arts as the sparks of my life at that moment. It was more of music and literary arts these days. The compliment just didn’t apply to me much since it has been ages since I touched the charcoal, oil pastels or my beloved SLR (all of which are collecting dust somewhere in my closet).
Maybe it just isn’t my ‘season’ for graphic arts again. Not yet anyway.
What is arts? It has many definitions, yet each is not exactly that dissimilar or diversed from the others.
n.
- Human effort to imitate, supplement, alter, or counteract the work of nature.
- The conscious production or arrangement of sounds, colors, forms, movements, or other elements in a manner that affects the sense of beauty, specifically the production of the beautiful in a graphic or plastic medium.
- The study of these activities.
- The product of these activities; human works of beauty considered as a group.
- High quality of conception or execution, as found in works of beauty; aesthetic value.
- A field or category of art, such as music, ballet, or literature.
- A nonscientific branch of learning; one of the liberal arts.
- A system of principles and methods employed in the performance of a set of activities: the art of building.
- A trade or craft that applies such a system of principles and methods: the art of the lexicographer.
- A system of principles and methods employed in the performance of a set of activities: the art of building.
- Skill that is attained by study, practice, or observation: the art of the baker; the blacksmith’s art.
- Skill arising from the exercise of intuitive faculties: “Self-criticism is an art not many are qualified to practice” (Joyce Carol Oates).
- Skill that is attained by study, practice, or observation: the art of the baker; the blacksmith’s art.
- arts Artful devices, stratagems, and tricks.
- Artful contrivance; cunning.
- arts Artful devices, stratagems, and tricks.
- Printing. Illustrative material.
Human effort to imitate, supplement, alter, or counteract the work of nature. Wow! That is strong. But I like the implication of how dictionary authors describe arts so literally. Personally, I do not take effort in creating a piece of art. Creation of artistic expressions should be as ‘natural’ as possible hence should not be the result of ‘trying too hard’. Therefore, my pieces in the past were usually done within hours to the span of few days at most. It was only during such duration would my inspiration be fresh and genuine. All strokes and colors would be made spontaneously. Nothing planned. Nothing much drafted.
There were many unfinished works though. Many of the pieces I did not complete with satisfaction. Most of which I lost the inspiration and motivation, without which the reason behind the piece would be pointless, and each would mean no more than ‘paint-by-numbers’ works. I remember starting painting an A3 portrait of Kurt Cobain a year after his death, and finished as much as I could to the face. The painting was left as one of the unfinisheds soon enough. I just could not do the last parts around the edges. Beyond his face and the angst it represented my years of youth, Kurt Cobain was to me a symbol of norm escapism. Away from the traditions and conventions. That was why there was nothing I could add beyond his face in that piece.
The conscious production or arrangement of sounds, colors, forms, movements, or other elements in a manner that affects the sense of beauty. Hmm. That pretty much summizes my entire meaning of conscious living. It seems that in every aspects of my daily routines, work and communication, even my speech and body language, comes with a certain degree of such conscious production expressions. Like moving from one space to another, we do them with a conscious intent yet with an unconscious knowledge of placing one foot in front of the other to move forward.
On the contrary, most of my ‘artistic’ expressions are conscious productions/arrangements out of unconscious intents. I know I would purposely add an additional stroke of charcoal on the paper, but I just do not know why. I just did it as if it was meant to be. Without which, it would seem wrong or out of balance.
That is what arts is to me.
