Is Art stagnating? Where is modern art going? Will we ever see another Michaelangelo, Da Vinci, Raphael, Modigliani, Picasso, Monet, Manet, Van Gogh or Pollack? Logically, when you think of it in context, my instincts says “NO”… they were all innovators (paying specific attention to painting here) – pioneers, but has everything that can be done in the art of ‘paint of canvass’, already been accomplished. Of course that’s what the challenge is for today’s artists – to be the next big thing, to forge a new path, a new direction in their field. Part of the problem, in my opinion, is that too many people want to be the next great artist… just hear me out here. Here’s what I mean: The oldest art school in the world, still active today, is a little over two hundred years old, yet in its early days it’s pretty safe to say that few people knew about it (although art schools existed as far back as the Middle ages - VanEyck in Flanders f.e. 13 -1400's. (Michelangelo, just by the way, learned through early apprenticeships, first as a 13 year old working under Florence painter Domenico Ghirlandaio, and then under a retired sculptor, creating his first major sculpture at the age of 17 - The Battle of the Centaurs.) Then you think about how many art schools there are in the world today, anyone with vague artistic flair can apply, and a percentage of those applicants will manage to forge a career in the art world, most finding their place, or niche, within the corporate/commercial world. What this means is that art has grown exponentially in the last century, accessible to every household – which is, for clarification, a VERY GOOD thing. Many will argue that that was (and was for the renaissance crowd) the ultimate goal of those earlier pioneers – to bring art to every person. Art is part of life. Without art, the world would be an unliveable place for most. Plainly put, we need art as an outlet of our creative selves… the sad reality of it though, is that all forms of global art forms might have diluted the craft. The trouble now is distinguishing the good from the brilliant, and then there are the blatant publicity stunts… (I’m not a fan of blank white walls or installation art – using light fixtures for instance). Media has played a huge part in the dilution of the craft. I think there are many new forms that have popped up recently that grab me – performance art (using a large crowd of people) as well as sand art (creating pictures and stories using sand on an illuminated screen). And yet, can we say that there is a definitive new art form or artist/painter, who is doing something new and revolutionary, and will be talked about for many years to come, much in the same vein as the artists of old. I heard it put a different way: The experts and genuinely gifted artists of today are pushing the envelope – but are they just doing it in incremental fashion – a little at a time. Where is the giant leap forward (or sideways) in the thinking and/or application on creating something people have never seen before? I admittedly am not on the pulse of what’s the most spoken about thing in the art world right now, but like many, am very receptive and attentive to it, always on the lookout for something that will grab my attention whilst also admiring the works of old. When you think about it, Art as we know it today, where everyone can say they know an artist, is very new – yes it has been around for as long as people have – noting rock paintings etc… but artists in the truest and purist sense of the word were always rare and in certain places revered, they certainly were not on virtually every street corner, so in a way it’s a catch 22 scenario… you want art to be present in some form or another in every household, but I for one, still want that something new, which will be universally recognised as something no one has ever seen before. My prediction: The next great artist or art form (in the purest sense) will come from Africa. I’m not saying that just because I’m African but because I believe it’s the most untapped resource in the global context. Admittedly though, I do say this more out of hope and prayer. For it to happen, something in the art industry must be corrected; that of the “classification system”. You may have, once upon a time, come a upon a curio in your day, I speak specifically of those wooden animal statuettes. You can go around, round up 100 to 1000 people and give them all a lump of wood and say “carve something that will sell” – I’m betting you’ll only find a couple worth keeping (let alone worthy of a sale), yet this industry (somehow has been shunted from labelled as sculpturing) is relegated by the art industry and labelled “Arts & Crafts”. Just because someone doesn’t own a degree or even a formal education (specifically in the Arts), does not mean that person’s work is less good, or less relevant. That individual was inspired by a variety of things, most times pure circumstance, whatever the case; the result is a piece of art which they have toiled over, more often than not with their entire livelihood at stake… Just the other day I saw paintings of a 5 year old American boy selling for thousands of dollars (and that with no tertiary training); hence formal education has little to do with the product. It says something that practically all the great artists were poor in their day, some even trading their works for a meal… living, creating, day by day… So, to conclude; on the earlier question of art stagnating, and thence the future of Art... Art has been described as an indefinable and boundless thing/form, meaning the possibilities are endless, and as is so often the case when initially exploring a theory on a topic (in this case), one is enlightened and finds new avenues. Here's a quote of an artist friend of mine who was happy to share his opinion on what the future holds: The next great artist and art form will be found in the digital environment, is my opinion. We are still in an experimental stadium... Technique is taking all over, so obviously this also will happen in art… So, the Digital environment then, as the world wades through the plethora of new technology and how best to apply/implement it in/to our lives - so Art is in a veritable stage of self rediscovery (hence the labyrinth image) - exploring where it will venture to next. If you're still in the dark on this, then I urge you to explore it. Here's some images and quick links into this realm - the future: Digital Art - (& mini Artist Feature)
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South Africa today: the state of the nation The Daily Maverick online Sometime late last year I wrote a short piece on South Africa and my (shared with countless other citizens) frustrations with the government (whom I did not vote for), bickering politicians and every other ill in this country - (the piece was inspired by the Marakana massacre). I felt compelled to write another piece. As the rape and thence murder of Anene Booysens continues to illicit a varied reaction across SA and the world, the deeper issue of the culture of violence permeating in SA has taken center stage . There are so many problems, so I’ll dive right on top of one of the biggest; though to be honest, no one could really change this in a substantial way – some problems take time to sort out, and some pain will only become manageable with even more time, the scars though, will remain, for a very very long time… I speak of Apartheid of course, and the fact that the nation of the New South Africa was born out of this heinous and evil construct. The nation which emerged was fraught with problems, but equally so, alive with possibility (to use a marketing catch phrase) and boundless potential. With such a fractured and divisive past, our subsequent number one enemy has always been ourselves. We know what we can achieve, and have achieved, but division persists with too many corrupt officials/government members, and an inactive public. However, everything I’m saying, and can and want to say, has already been said, so I’ll throw in some quotes here This is from a recent article on the Daily Maverick online newspaper: “We don’t know to what extent the frustration of young and old males, at their wits end in a society that has discarded them, where they have no jobs and women tend to get things quicker exacerbates the situation. That is not a cause, but could be an underlying issue behind incidence of sexual violence.” Link to full article here. "Cooper" referenced and quoted above is a doctor and psychiatrist. Of all the varied cultures we have in South Africa, the one we’re tending to cultivate and nurture the most in this near twenty year democracy, is violence. Here, where societal inequality is unparalleled (just the other day I watched a magazine program, showing off the a beautiful palatial mansion with sea views, a swimming pool and an entertainment deck – for the kids to entertain their friends with table tennis or snooker etc… meanwhile a few kilometers away, there are people who don’t even have a toilet in their own tiny house), dividing the country into the “have” and “have not’s”. As one local white comedian/ventriloquist put it “I grew up with the ‘we hate apartheid, but we benefited from it’ group”… the current democratically elected government has seemingly just left its people to fend for themselves – “If you want wealth, go get it”. This mentality, of every man for himself, has perpetuated from government down throughout South Africa, where we only seem to galvanize when our national sports team takes the field. There’s a lot of angst, frustration, unresolved anger, hurt and passion brewing beneath the surface, issues that weren’t dealt with in the Truth and reconciliation Commission (which should not have ended so soon) for example. Most uneducated black people (a result of every SA gov.) are too quick to haul out the race card whenever something goes against them, and most white people are too afraid/ashamed to talk about the past, and pain and suffering they know little of. I don’t know what it’s like to be forced from my home under an oppressive government and dangerous security police as I’ve grown up in a sheltered environment, mostly in the new South Africa, but older generations of my family can speak of such experiences – and that’s just one aspect… We’ve come out of an evil regime, and simply tried to live normally, act as we usually would if there was never an apartheid to speak of, but the scar on the nation as a whole is too deep to ignore. Plainly put, there’s very little dialogue between portions of society, a place or moment where one or many can vent their concerns and frustrations. So everyone seems to talk amongst friends, or keep their thoughts to themselves. I finished compiling and writing this article shortly after an introspective stroll down the Sea point promenade. Sitting there on a bench watching ships disappear and emerge from the mist off shore, looking down into the deep blue of the Atlantic, feeling the refreshing breeze which took the sting out of a hot day… What we see is nothing new; pain is pain, the world keeps turning and simple things will always be made to look complicated. Tides will continue to ebb and flow, and we will struggle on, always finding ourselves as our own worst foe.
The violence which has become common place in SA, and which for so many abroad is synonymous with us, is perhaps the civil war we should have had but didn’t. It was a miracle that we averted war – a poster for peace and reconciliation – but the same tools we carried in anticipation for conflict and survival, we now use on ourselves, frothing up in various forms, from drug and alcohol abuse to violence against our fellow men and women, compounded further by corruption, poverty, AIDS, all forms of crime, a lack of education, and thence morals and ethics - it's a different, passive kind of civil war. It's always amazing to me, just a few days ago my family played host to some friends from Switzerland, and their impression, along with countless others who've visited our shores, was that South African's are a warm and loving people, always ready to accommodate... so, when we put our best foot forward we can be example's for the world, but at the same time, our internal conflict can be the shame of the world - or at least one example of it... During the last days of apartheid, so many people prayed for a peaceful end, the country was a nervous hive of tension and prayer,as most sought God's guidance in our most trying time... how many though continued, and are still praying for the wellbeing of the nation? What is it about mountains, rivers, valleys, cliffs, jungles, frozen no-mans-lands and every other area most would regard as unlivable? What is it that draws us closer and makes us forsake all rationality and venture off into the desert to climb a dune and listen to the sounds of silence? A few days ago Sir Ranulph Fiennes (former SAS Special forces captain, second cousin to actors Ralph and Joseph, author of The Feather Men - which was turned into a film starring Clive Owen and Robert De Niro) departed Cape Town on yet another expedition. Setting sail for Antarctica aboard the ice strengthened Agulhas, their mission: to traverse the frozen continent in the dead of winter (a feat previously regarded by all authorities who cared, as impossible - a veritable suicide mission as the human body was not made to withstand such conditions - the entire trek will be conducted in pitch darkness because by the time they get there, the south pole will be in the season of no sunlight). Apparently technology has advanced sufficiently to allow the six man team the "go-ahead" nod by the commonwealth. So it becomes a "slightly-less-than-suicide mission". Among his many feats, summiting Everest on his 3rd attempt being one of them (at 65yrs of age), he and a small team completed the Transglobe some 30 yrs ago circumnavigating the globe by passing over the North & South poles - and remain the only ones to have done so (its in the Guinness book of world records). Although this is surely their most dangerous challenge. Team member Anton Bowring (63) stated this on his blog "It will be extraordinary if something bad doesn't happen during the crawl across 2,400 miles of ice in temperatures of -70°C and perpetual darkness where crevasses can swallow up a 25-ton bulldozer in the blink of a frosted eye."
Another adventurer and Laureus Award winner/Committee member, my countryman now residing in Swiss country, Mike Horn - He won the award for circumnavigating the globe unassisted along the the equator - is currently conducting his Pangaea Expeditions project. This initiative takes young people on adventures to highlight the plight of the world and open the eyes of the young to the magnificence that exists waaay off the beaten track - a world which they will inherit, a world in desperate need of protection and preservation. Of course these men are at the extreme end of the spectrum. For most of us, the spirit of adventure entails a hike up a mountain or a week long camping/road trip, bundu-bashing and star gazing among other things. And you don't need to be the next Erden Eruç, Nellie Bly, Bear Grylls, Freya Stark, Amelia Erhart et al. to feel itchy feet every now and then. "... The second one, it was like we was both back in older times and I was on horseback goin' through the mountains of a night. Goin' through this pass in the mountains. It was cold and there was snow on the ground and he rode past me and kept on goin'. Never said nothin' goin' by. He just rode on past... and he had his blanket wrapped around him and his head down and when he rode past I seen he was carryin' fire in a horn the way people used to do and I could see the horn from the light inside of it. 'Bout the color of the moon. And in the dream I knew that he was goin' on ahead and he was fixin' to make a fire somewhere out there in all that dark and all that cold, and I knew that whenever I got there he would be there. And then I woke up..." -- No Country for old Men, 2007 -Article by Steven Benjamin. The links to Ranulph Feinnes and Mike Horn's official websites: http://www.ranulphfiennes.co.uk/ http://www.mikehorn.com/en/mike-horn/ Why I write... Posted a few days ago, here's a piece I wrote on 'Why I write...' published on Shinazy Linda's blog BOBB - 'Bitchin old Boomer Babe'. Click HERE
Me, on Milnerton beach a couple of years ago 2012 marks a big year in my writing career... it may not look it, but many seeds have been sown. For one, I started this website and blog (albeit at the behest and encouragement of friends). I subsequently also joined Twitter... these may seem like small things, but for me and my trajectory as a writer/author, it is kind of essential elements, tools if you will, going forward. I also happened to trek through the Fish River Canyon along with a great group of people (read more about that by clicking on the Fish River Canyon tab in the sidebar). I also joined Joel Kanar's team as a film reviewer at Inthekan.net, then I became a member of the African Renaissance Foundation - accepting their mandate within a growing movement on this beautiful and troubled continent. I've made many new friends, both professional and social (Thanks to all of you, old and new), and am nearing the completion of a third (yes 3rd!) draft of my debut novel The Quiet Days (although this name is subject to change - once this draft is complete - I'm holding out though as I'm quite sentimental about it...) God has blessed me abundantly, though I know it is nothing compared to what awaits me in the coming year, as well as the responsibility which comes with it A Passion (albeit somewhat neglected this year) Progression by Bigup Productions - I recommend it It was released a few years ago, but watch it, if only just to see the legendary Chris Sharma send his Clark Mountain "impossible" superclimb project. Oh what the heck - just because I'm cool that way, here's a more detailed video of Sharma's heroic climb as featured on National Geographic. |
[Banner illustration by Joel Kanar]
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