the growth of a movement

i love talking to artists.  and hearing artists talk.  and i love reading what artists have to say.  because it seems like we are the type of people to analyze and then over-analyze everything.  it keeps things interesting.  artists see art in the banal, in the mundane, in the elaborate...we see art in almost everything--even a cardboard box.  we scrutinize the symbols of society at large, we dig apart our behaviors and the behaviors of others, we anatomize patterns in nature and those outside of nature, and we discover new pieces to the puzzle everywhere we look.  we dissect patterns and reproduce patterns and create patterns of our own.  we discuss things upon things, and their relationships with the world at large.  we brainstorm and throw ideas and possibilities around. and then, we toss it all in the blender called our psyche, and we create.  we make things. things that are banal, things that are intriguing, things that can't always easily be explained or pigeonholed, things that defy description.  things upon things.   these things have been birthed from intricate fractals, layers of personal experience, cultural paradigm, trial and error, and discourse.  we are artists, we are weird, we don't usually fit a mold, but we always have each other in common.

while listening to my first podcast on Bad at Sports: Contemporary Art Talk today, i was reminded of the nature of artists.   it's good to know lots of artists, and expose yourself to lots of artists, because although we might be bad at sports, we're always pushing to find new forms of inspiration and expression.  each time one artist gives birth to a new idea, or unearths a new discovery, it's like the whole crew has just struck gold.  so today, i found the link to Bad at Sports in a link list from Jeremy Okai Davis.  it's not the first time this guy has inspired me, either. listening to that podcast while i painted gave me more food for thought than a thanksgiving dinner.  as practicing artists, we share, we appropriate, we critique, we collaborate, we challenge the status-quo, we push past mediocrity, and we grow together, as a movement.  that's our job, should we choose to accept it.