every day, the more I say throw it all out and go make art.
who have asked me “What is art?” Good question. I really have no specific answer
to that. The second question has been what is a “Call to Arms?” Here it is, in
a nutshell. A call to arms, at least as far as I know it, is to get up and go.
Go arm yourself and fight. I propose that we all arm ourselves with pens and
paintbrushes and electric guitars. It’s my desire that everyone gets out of the
rut, off the sofa and to the creative space all human beings have in them.
There are all sorts of good answers. There are academic answers. There are
esoteric answers. And since I like to oversimplify things, I here is my answer:
Make something, even if it’s dinner. Use space wisely, even
if it’s that small area of dirt at the end of your alley. Grow something, even
if it’s a flower. Get off the sofa. Know that those things that kill your
creativity are all the things someone else tells you that you want. Thwart the
system. Give up GMOs. Quit using your car. If you walk somewhere today and eat
an organic apple, I bet the notion of making art will make sense to you. Spend
your time reading a book, any book. If you commit to all the pages in any given
novel that was on your high school recommended reading list, then you will
commit to the process of thinking. After that, I’m sure there will be a level
of imagination rising in you. Then, perhaps you’ll want to make something.
think art is. To avoid sounding like a nostalgic old man, let me tell you, I
don’t feel like people are any more or less creative now than in the past. I do
feel like there are more distractions now. I feel like there are more
influences now that are at a detriment to art and the manufacturing thereof. I
feel like art is still everywhere, and everywhere it must be. But it’s not the
art that I’m demanding in this call to arms. It’s the process of making art.
process is what will save us all. Start right now. Go out and make something beautiful,
daring, appalling, disgusting. Make film, ceramics, grow Venus fly traps,
anything. Just start the process now.