as the title indicates, this is #1 of an ongoing series that will give pictoral representations of why it's not always a great idea to model your lifestyle after people whose art you may like.
this here is charles bukowski.
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Pictoral reasons why not to emulate all of your heroes-- #1 in an ongoing series
as the title indicates, this is #1 of an ongoing series that will give pictoral representations of why it's not always a great idea to model your lifestyle after people whose art you may like.
this here is charles bukowski.
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5 comments:
Cool idea.
I think he means pictorial. or maybe pectoral? LOL :)
I wouldn't want to model my life Bukowski, mainly because he was a drunk and a chauvanist, not to say I knew the man, and not to say I haven't been both those things at times...but this picture just makes him look like a grizzled old man, nothing threatening there.
In this series will you actually point out the bad things that make up these lifestyles? I like the series you started on the great melee where you celebrate what's good about writer's/artist's as opposed to pointing out flaws, which brings me too...
I just watched walk the line yesterday and found the drug abuse story tiresome. can't hollywood find something more to joyous to celebrate then that? sure cash's love for june's was a prominent part of the story, but not as prominent as his drug addiction. but again....like I know the guy. I grew up with Cash, and really just saw him as a big, cowboy dressed in black, tough guy type. heroic in fact. reality (however fictive) is just as well.
Everyone raved about this movie, nothing worse than having great expectations. just ask Pip!
I started reading a book about John Lenon one time, but had to stop. When I came to the part where he was shooting up with heroine and beating up Yoko, I thought, "Maybe I'll just leave it how it is, I can appresiate the goodness of someones art without knowing them, or how awful they MIGHT have really been".
As far as drugs being the reason for genius, I'm not convinced. I think maybe if these people didn't do the poison path they might have even been greater (but we'll never know for sure). Did D'Vinci do drugs? I bet Einstien didn't.
Josey and I are were talking about this the other day. Why are all our friends drunks? Ok, not you guys specifically, but a lot of our friends are addicts (sex, drugs, alcohol, food, whatever). In a way, we linked such addictions with art, seeing as this seemed to be the only other commonality amongst these people.
I still haven't decided what I think on the matter, but there is the idea that the immediate gratification of art might have something to do with it.
I don't mean that making art is easy, quick, or simple. But a stroke of paint or the strum of a guitar are tangible products of creativity that can be seen, heard, touched, etc.
I'm not completing this thought, but it's not because I didn't try. I just can't seem to find the words..or the thoughts...
Josey also made the point that young artists are "different", and may easily be drawn or driven away from the dominant group, towards, let us say, "alternative experiences".
Needless to say, I don't really know. But I definitely think about this strange connection between addiction and art. It kind of makes me sad. So many people I care about struggle with the effects of addiction in their daily lives- which usually leads them further and further into their escape.
Too bad I have to make this short:
I've been down a fairly serious drug path in my past. I can vividly remember thinking how the drugs "opened" up an awareness in me, a conduit or something, where creativity poured out. Now, looking back, I dont regret that life but I can see that I was wrong. Drugs allowed me to experience a different side to life and gain from that experience - but they didn't make me more creative or a better artist. I think you could just as easily say that an artist who's been to war, and experienced those horrible things that make war, is a genius because of that experience - and you'd be wrong. Of course the experience gives you more to draw on, a deeper depth of content to be inspired by, but it doesn't make your art better - and I certainly don't believe it 'makes' you a genius.
I'd like to elaborate more - but I have to go. Cheers!
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