A Short Note Concerning Art

I have been drawing and writing in a kind of fever this past week.

While I have yet to define Art for myself, I am certain that my drawings are not Art, not in the least. They are kitschy and fun and cute and that is all, and that is fine. There is no truth to be found in my drawings of owls and rabbits and bears.

But my writing...I think it is Art. I think it has moments of beauty that cut to the heart of things, moments when words combine to reveal some kind of truth.

I have been thinking about Art a lot lately, and I have been reveling in those moments of transcendence that are found in works of true Art, those moments that are so perfect you can see through Art to infinity.

I can think of a few moments of pure light. That moment in 'Gimme Shelter' where Merry Clayton's voice nearly shatters; at that moment, Mick's coy warning against rape and murder and war is only a half-note away. The elephant in 'Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening' that on its spindly legs runs through the ocean; this image once called forth a terrifying dream of the apocalypse that will never, ever leave me. Every clickity-clack, typewriter-ricochet word of 'Daddy'; the sound of a woman goose-stepping towards the ovens with her head held high.*

The original title of this piece was 'A Short Note Concerning Art, to Which You Are Encouraged to Contribute'. Do you have moments like mine? An image, a sound, a word that shivers your spine and makes your heart beat in triple-time, for the sheer truth of it? Where have you found your truth and your beauty?



*If you're interested, the three works of Art referenced are as follows:

'Gimme Shelter', song by the Rolling Stones
'Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening', painting by Salvador Dali
'Daddy', poem by Sylvia Plath