Re: [rumori] gifts


From: Pan (panATsensoryresearch.com)
Date: Sat Apr 27 2002 - 09:38:04 PDT


Two points...

On Saturday, April 27, 2002, at 11:39 AM, Steev Hise wrote:

>
> My comment about gift economies to Don was simply to imply this
> idea:
>
> Artists, stop worrying about getting compensated. Art is a gift.

No way! *(You and I have sparred on this before). If someone feels that
they create art with worth, they should feel entitled to get back some
of that worth. Art is necessary for a culture. It fulfill's a vital
need. The artist provides an outlet for a society's emotions, thoughts,
history etc. Artistic ideas such as songs and pictures tend to be our
greatest link to the past. Why is this service not valued? Why shouldn't
someone providing this service expect to get paid?

> Find another way to make money. Get a day job. Then stop
> worrying.

The problem here is that art is a reflection of what an artist observes.
As with scientific analysis, there is a special type of separation
between the observer and the observed. The artist takes a step back from
the "inspiration", looks it over, then attempts to reproduce/comment
on/reject it. It's no secret that most artists live "on the fringe".
Why? because they have the ability to take a step back and view the
workings of our environment. This step back implies an ability to avoid
"walking the maze" every day. Somewhere in that artist's life is a
situation that allows him to avoid getting sucked into the daily flow.

Here's a real simplistic example. How many artists do you know that are
late night people? Why? If you ask them, you will most likely find that
they enjoy the isolation, silence and general stasis of night. It allows
them the ability to step back from "the grind". Now, how many jobs are
there in our society that will let someone exist at night? Very few. So,
our artist friend has to get a daytime job to survive, thereby cutting
into his creation time, and hindering his ability to step away from the
system. I'm not saying that great art can't happen when Joe Blow is
working 9-5 for a living. I'd be willing to wager though that there is
something in his life that provides him the abilities mentioned above.

Pan

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