wheee!
don't know where to start, but you can start by reading my posts from the last couple-or-so of blogskies. ... NOW!
so what are we left with? i'm hoping to put to bed the argument about cynicism, because it IS pervasive, and i would like to tuck it in alittle. make it comfy and tell it 'sweet dreams'. [lost about 20 minutes of blog writing there. mental note to save the blither before i try to do anything else!!!]
cynicism will get you everywhere. the highest manifestations of art are soaking in cynicism and sarcasm: 'tristram shandy' by stern, joyce's 'finnegan's wake', duchamp, picasso, the folks at the first 'arte de refuse', dare i say even currin, to make this a holistic blog, i'll touch music: the atonalists and minimalists and cage. they're all making a joke. the question is, who get's the damn joke? how much investment is there in even understanding the language which the joke is told in? hello, 'relevance', how are you? our cultural conundrum [to bring it all the way back] is that the impact of wit is lost. wit flies around looking for a place to land, and the target used to be much wider than it is now.
so, we've got a double edged problem. on the one hand, i've got the hiccups. but that's not important. on the other hand, we've got a culture that separates the 'knowing' [elite, educated, worldly] from the huddled masses very efficiently through poor education, crapulent economy, etc. and on the other hand, we've got a mass of half smart people [artists] trying to do something relevant by splashing around in a very big pool... and alot of them are trying to be and do something half-smart [cynical] and reach beyond their limits [the failure of cynicism: shear stab-at-it and i'm-so-much-better-ism] when they're set up to fail becaue of the previous hand that took away any entre' to begin with. currin succeeds because he's forced a nail through a cultural moment in a way that appeals to a broad member of the elite.
with all the remove: cultural boarders and no-man's-lands and economic segregation, it's no wonder we are flooded with creative work that doesn't make relative sense... we're living in a disconnected time. the problem of cynical artwork is that it either re-establishes or invents a culdesac of elitism. if it's re-establishing, it runs the risk of sinking into the muck-bottom with the rest, or competing with the best [previous establishers]. if it's inventive, well god help it, it's on its own and may be ringing in a super-secret about giving, like the ramones. either way there is a risk, and [here we go again] as with all good jokes, timing is everything.
lala
don't know where to start, but you can start by reading my posts from the last couple-or-so of blogskies. ... NOW!
so what are we left with? i'm hoping to put to bed the argument about cynicism, because it IS pervasive, and i would like to tuck it in alittle. make it comfy and tell it 'sweet dreams'. [lost about 20 minutes of blog writing there. mental note to save the blither before i try to do anything else!!!]
cynicism will get you everywhere. the highest manifestations of art are soaking in cynicism and sarcasm: 'tristram shandy' by stern, joyce's 'finnegan's wake', duchamp, picasso, the folks at the first 'arte de refuse', dare i say even currin, to make this a holistic blog, i'll touch music: the atonalists and minimalists and cage. they're all making a joke. the question is, who get's the damn joke? how much investment is there in even understanding the language which the joke is told in? hello, 'relevance', how are you? our cultural conundrum [to bring it all the way back] is that the impact of wit is lost. wit flies around looking for a place to land, and the target used to be much wider than it is now.
so, we've got a double edged problem. on the one hand, i've got the hiccups. but that's not important. on the other hand, we've got a culture that separates the 'knowing' [elite, educated, worldly] from the huddled masses very efficiently through poor education, crapulent economy, etc. and on the other hand, we've got a mass of half smart people [artists] trying to do something relevant by splashing around in a very big pool... and alot of them are trying to be and do something half-smart [cynical] and reach beyond their limits [the failure of cynicism: shear stab-at-it and i'm-so-much-better-ism] when they're set up to fail becaue of the previous hand that took away any entre' to begin with. currin succeeds because he's forced a nail through a cultural moment in a way that appeals to a broad member of the elite.
with all the remove: cultural boarders and no-man's-lands and economic segregation, it's no wonder we are flooded with creative work that doesn't make relative sense... we're living in a disconnected time. the problem of cynical artwork is that it either re-establishes or invents a culdesac of elitism. if it's re-establishing, it runs the risk of sinking into the muck-bottom with the rest, or competing with the best [previous establishers]. if it's inventive, well god help it, it's on its own and may be ringing in a super-secret about giving, like the ramones. either way there is a risk, and [here we go again] as with all good jokes, timing is everything.
lala
posted by assemblager at 8:17 PM
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