Quote of the Day
"The job of art is to chase ugliness away."
-Bono
Heard on the Special Events download with Steve Jobs and U2, last night as I was browsing around and in particular eyeing the (to expensive to buy right now) Thing that is at the top of my wish list on the site that is also selling these with the U2 marketing wrapper.
Everyone will interpret this quote in their own way. To me, it means that Art has a purpose, and that the purpose is to be an alternative to hurtful expression. People all over have a need to express themselves. To often, however, the way some folks express themselves is hurtful to others. Art, in whatever form (visual, written, musical, performed, etc) is an alternative to meaness.
Art is good war.
Art can be so many things, and the same painting, words or tune can mean different things to different people. The only thing is, a lot of people get scared or feel threatened when they don't immediately understand what they are seeing or hearing or reading. So, what do we tell our children? "If you don't understand something.... Ask!"
When I was a senior in college a long long time ago I had an assigment to write my own Philosophy of Art. Ha ha! I tried, I really did, but even at the time I remember thinking I did not know how to package my philosphy of art into a nice tidy essay on a couple of pages of typewriter paper. Art was so much and it was everything! Art could be three fallen autumn leaves on a wet sidewalk. Art could be a plate of mashed potatoes in the middle of the floor in an art gallery. The point is that art is different to different people and at different times.
When I heard "the job of art is to chase ugliness away," I started tho think about the length and bredth of those words. You can fill in the blank yourself: Today "ugliness" is ___________.
Yupp. I have now written a kind of philosophy of art for the day. And I invite You to do the same. Maybe it's a painting, a photograph, a song, or a plate of mashed potatoes.... go out into the world and chase away the ugliness!
-Bono
Heard on the Special Events download with Steve Jobs and U2, last night as I was browsing around and in particular eyeing the (to expensive to buy right now) Thing that is at the top of my wish list on the site that is also selling these with the U2 marketing wrapper.
Everyone will interpret this quote in their own way. To me, it means that Art has a purpose, and that the purpose is to be an alternative to hurtful expression. People all over have a need to express themselves. To often, however, the way some folks express themselves is hurtful to others. Art, in whatever form (visual, written, musical, performed, etc) is an alternative to meaness.
Art is good war.
Art can be so many things, and the same painting, words or tune can mean different things to different people. The only thing is, a lot of people get scared or feel threatened when they don't immediately understand what they are seeing or hearing or reading. So, what do we tell our children? "If you don't understand something.... Ask!"
When I was a senior in college a long long time ago I had an assigment to write my own Philosophy of Art. Ha ha! I tried, I really did, but even at the time I remember thinking I did not know how to package my philosphy of art into a nice tidy essay on a couple of pages of typewriter paper. Art was so much and it was everything! Art could be three fallen autumn leaves on a wet sidewalk. Art could be a plate of mashed potatoes in the middle of the floor in an art gallery. The point is that art is different to different people and at different times.
When I heard "the job of art is to chase ugliness away," I started tho think about the length and bredth of those words. You can fill in the blank yourself: Today "ugliness" is ___________.
Yupp. I have now written a kind of philosophy of art for the day. And I invite You to do the same. Maybe it's a painting, a photograph, a song, or a plate of mashed potatoes.... go out into the world and chase away the ugliness!
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