Examination Question: Section A

[Ishmael]

Thanks for a fresh perspective, I agree with you that we use art as an attempt to capture/release/explain/present ourselves. That art can be a frozen moment in our lives.
But what if one also considers the amber that holds the moment to be art?
I think Hamlet wrote "refuse common sense in the disctinction between Life and Art." (correct me if I am wrong, I can not find the line now). This is an excellent point to the amber being Art as well. Can Art be created only? Does it exist as a free element? Are we simply harnassing something raw and altering it to please our esthetics?

Art, in one form or another, is always created, if only in the mind of the viewer. Art can exist without the purposeful intervention of the artist, but not without the viewer. It's the old "tree falling in the forest" paradox. In other words, art may exist in and of itself, but without a viewer, who would know?

I choose amber quite purposefully. It was my way of 'painting' with words what I think the components of art are. There is the constuct that the artist saw in his/her minds eye as the work was created (What the artist thought they were placing in the amber). The actuality of the results of the labor (That which is truly in the amber). And the work as seen and interpreted by the viewer (what the viewer perceives in the amber). The amber surrounds the created work and acts as a distorter and diffuser of the created work. Much as our brain distorts and diffuses what the artist is trying to tell us about their life. And so in that distortion, the viewer has created a new work, the amber was the enabler and is now part and parcel of the complete work. The three components are inseperable.

Ishmael

 

[GreenEyedGirl]

So our minds are the amber that cushions the art, inextricably linked to the form. I like that.
Art exists by itself, but it is the viewer that defines it as such.
The artist's message or intent is lost in the medium itself, because it is the viewer who defines the meaning.
Without an audience, an actor is just a man on a stage.
Hmmm....

Hamletmaschine wrote "Art becomes art by virtue of certain social operations that are performed on it. " And as a definition that is absolutely true. But I also am drawn to the "avant garde" view point of removing definitions, removing pre-conceived notions as to what constitues art, and finding what appears. Using art as a challenge to the senses vs using the senses to challenge art.

Art is simply an opinion really. Perhaps art is to us what the gods were to the ancients. A way to explain society, people's base urges as well as their aspirations, nature, chaos, emotions.
A point to calm the instability that is Life. A way to touch the intangible.

 

[freescorfr]

.

Art is simply an opinion really. Perhaps art is to us what the gods were to the ancients. A way to explain society, people's base urges as well as their aspirations, nature, chaos, emotions.
A point to calm the instability that is Life. A way to touch the intangible.

So, substantially more than opinion, Greeneyedgirl.

The gods, nature, chaos - we are beings in a world which threatens. Art helps marry my inner world with the outward world: it gives inner sight insight.
It brings awareness into consciousness.

 

[GreenEyedGirl]

Substantial, my new favorite word. Makes me feel as light as a Degas dancer. Or his lady in kimono.

Art marries one's inner world to the outer. Wonderful.

It has begun again, where is our illustrious leader? Riff? You are needed here. Our thoughts have been redirected into something lovely.

 

[Guest]

Art helps marry my inner world with the outward world: it gives inner sight insight.

I agree with you, GreenEyedGirl, that is a wonderful picture. It's an interesting relational word to throw onto the table, but not the marriage that is so often romance-less...the ball and chain so to speak. More the picture of two distinct wills, if you please, discovering the orgasmic pleasure of unified purpose and expression, in the elusive dimension of moment -a convergence of need and desire in the wine glass of hope.

 

[erosman]

timed out again....

Art helps marry my inner world with the outward world: it gives inner sight insight.

I agree with you, GreenEyedGirl, that is a wonderful picture. It's an interesting relational word to throw onto the table, but not the marriage that is so often romance-less...the ball and chain so to speak. More the picture of two distinct wills, if you please, discovering the orgasmic pleasure of unified purpose and expression, in the elusive dimension of moment -a convergence of need and desire in the wine glass of hope.

 

[riff]

Substantial, my new favorite word. Makes me feel as light as a Degas dancer. Or his lady in kimono.

Art marries one's inner world to the outer. Wonderful.

It has begun again, where is our illustrious leader? Riff? You are needed here. Our thoughts have been redirected into something lovely.

My head.... I didn't get enough sleep last night. I did my taxes at the last minute. Faculty meeting. Not sure if I want to teach where I am next year. Parents. Questions. A pile of work left from when I lost my mind last week and did nothing but sleep and wonder what the fuck happened to me (I missed 2 days of work). It is 9PM. I need to go to bed. I have not lost interest.

Tired minds think tired thoughts.

Here is one short quote, weary, but with a smile: "Language speaks itself."

G'night! (I am so tired, I am not even horny- and that is tired!)

 

[freescorfr]

My head.... I didn't get enough sleep last night. I did my taxes at the last minute. Faculty meeting. Not sure if I want to teach where I am next year. Parents. Questions. A pile of work left from when I lost my mind last week and did nothing but sleep and wonder what the fuck happened to me (I missed 2 days of work). It is 9PM. I need to go to bed. I have not lost interest.

Tired minds think tired thoughts.

Here is one short quote, weary, but with a smile: "Language speaks itself."

G'night! (I am so tired, I am not even horny- and that is tired!)

Dear examiner,

Your candidates love you greatly and undersatnd your weariness. While we have been wrestling with the questions you have set us, you have been having your own battle.

Yours has been the inner conflict set by your own question,
"How far can I stand against my own being, my own potentialities?"


Footnote:

Consciousness itself involves the possibility and temptation to kill itself: most of all when you're tired.

 

[freescorfr]

Hey, Riff, I want my mark. And I want to make comparisons with the other candidates.

Some of us may weep, others may dance with joy - we'll all pretend it doesn't matter. Don't deny me this, I've not sat an exam in centuries.

This is unfinished business and that is always bad news.

When I have an unresolved situation, somehow or other I engineer myself into a similar set of cirumstances to have another go at resolving it. This is the essential ingredient in repetitive behaviour - violence, crime, abuse, monarchy.

Have a great holiday, Mr. examiner.

 

[riff]

What mark do you feel you have earned? Is the mark important to you? You know, you never really answered the question.

A+

Teacher's Comments:

Evidence of an agile mind engaged in something that transcends petty exams and institutionalized education. I recommend you to a remedial course in basic fucking with 7 females of your liking for the duration of 6 months followed by long term sex therapy in a natural domestic setting.

 

[GreenEyedGirl]

What mark do you feel you have earned? Is the mark important to you? You know, you never really answered the question.

A+

Teacher's Comments:

Evidence of an agile mind engaged in something that transcends petty exams and institutionalized education. I recommend you to a remedial course in basic fucking with 7 females of your liking for the duration of 6 months followed by long term sex therapy in a natural domestic setting.

Are grades being passed out now that it is the end of the semester? I always feel slightly anxious in May, just as I always feel rather excited in September (with an urge to go buy notebooks and pens!)

So, Master examiner riff, grade me!

 

[riff]

Greenie.

Again I ask, what mark do you think you have earned and is it important to you?

A+

Teacher's Comments: The authority of your opinions has never been compromised by your playful and curious disposition- in fact, these attributes only enhanced your insight, keeping all of us on our toes.

If I could give you a higher mark, I would, for there were times when our waning interest in the material could only be revived by the scent of a female amongst us. Without you, I am almost certain the cretans such as Hamletmaschine, Freescofr, and Dillinger would have dropped out at mid-term.

Since I cannot give you a higher mark, I am recommending you a thorough gang-banging by your choice of the Boston College football team or the entire field of that city's famous marathon. Following this humilation, I would suggest a trip to Nepal.

 

[freescorfr]

What mark do you feel you have earned? Is the mark important to you? You know, you never really answered the question.

A+

Teacher's Comments:

Evidence of an agile mind engaged in something that transcends petty exams and institutionalized education. I recommend you to a remedial course in basic fucking with 7 females of your liking for the duration of 6 months followed by long term sex therapy in a natural domestic setting.

Dr. Riff,
Thank You. No I don't give a toss about the grades, but the prescription seems to fit the bill. I have faith in your ordinance and will keep you posted on progress.

I want seven volunteers, now.

 

[GreenEyedGirl]

Greenie.

Again I ask, what mark do you think you have earned and is it important to you?

A+

Teacher's Comments: The authority of your opinions has never been compromised by your playful and curious disposition- in fact, these attributes only enhanced your insight, keeping all of us on our toes.

If I could give you a higher mark, I would, for there were times when our waning interest in the material could only be revived by the scent of a female amongst us. Without you, I am almost certain the cretans such as Hamletmaschine, Freescofr, and Dillinger would have dropped out at mid-term.

Since I cannot give you a higher mark, I am recommending you a thorough gang-banging by your choice of the Boston College football team or the entire field of that city's famous marathon. Following this humilation, I would suggest a trip to Nepal.

I know what I think, I am just always curious about what others think. That need to have a tangible weighing of one's import/intelligence/participation is such an inate need. Teacher's approval, something we all strive for in either the positive or negative.

But I am pleased to know that my feminine scent helped to keep a most worthy topic alive for so long. This is a thread we should never let die.

But you know, that recomendation of yours, quite the interesting summer project. I thought a series of books to read would have been more the norm. But then again, we few, we band of brothers, are not the norm.

So, football or marathoners followed by Nepal. Difficult decision. I may have to defer for a while while I ponder that!

 

[freescorfr]

Dear mr. Examiner,
I've just looked at the link in your sig. line and it is super therapy.

Have you any advice about my proposed trip to Amsterdam this weekend, with my nearly 16 year old son. It is his suggestion.

 

[riff]

Free... baby. I do not shit gold. I bought a digicam. I am stuck stateside for summer. Unless ther is a windfall.