marlene mountain
as is
2001

3/6/01

art with a little a

i feel for the artists worldwide over the last few thousand years who have been under the thumb of church and/or state, academies, art history, patrons, the military, agents, masters/teachers, mass opinion, families, commercialism, oppressive cultures and so on. those ridiculed, overpraised, beaten, killed, gone mad. i respect all: the ones who retained/retain at least some creative spirit and the ones who got/get crushed trying.

golly where would art be without those controllers? it boggles the mind.

art if anything is the expression of the individual in a world which prefers to use artists for means other than self-expression. artists by instinct have tons of internal self-control. sometimes too much. artists often spend entire lives getting beyond restrictions, both internal and external. we love those who break through, ie, once safely in museums, anthologies and art history books. how many artists does it take to unenslave us? personally i love the uncontrollables. the raw danger of 'raw art.' what artists just up and do. it's so spooky.

 

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