Perspective

As we move along from state to state, a conversation is continued among those we meet; the theme is one of perspective and another of perseverance. I am reminded of a lyric left on my chest back home – “from where I’m standin’ you all seem like you’re waiting for your love to return.” In Illinois, I was told that making others believe that you are, indeed, an artist or important supersedes the act of creating. Hence, it doesn’t matter what you make as long as people perceive that what you’re making is grand. This trickery involves imagery, slogan making, branding, and the conquering of social networks such as MySpace, Facebook and Twitter. Although undoubtedly powerful tools in the game of garnering support, I believe that these mechanisms are doing nothing more than creating “fans,” a term now rebranded as, I guess, “likers.” The trouble with this is “how much thought goes into liking something?”

Any time spent advertising is time away from creating and of course one may argue that the marketing process is and can be part of the creation, but I disagree. A few years ago the buzz word was “artfully” or “artfulness,” so then each task aside from the actual creation of art could be managed “artfully” therefore cleansing one’s conscience of that dreadful sensation which corresponds with selling oneself.

Many artists continue these conversations ad infinitum for a lack of understanding - reaching out as if within the plethora of social networks and among countless “friends” they remain answerless. Where is the community, where is the support – if the questions are still being asked and some still feel hopeless?
Maybe the community was never there, maybe the support has been stolen, maybe the infrastructure is corrupt and maybe the route is wrong.

Unless it is your route.

m.m.