Search and Discover

Observe appearances, recognize realities behind them.

It is the uncanny that is at once familiar and yet strange, alien, and unknown.

Remote, Immediate

Dissipated force of what has been does not become more, and is lost.

Loss of this nature is complete, and permanent. One understands that such things, people, and events impacted reality and culture in ways no longer evident, and that they are increasingly becoming entirely obscure.  At a certain point it will be as if they had never existed.

The artist who creates to evoke the uncanny seeks outcomes at a far remove from such scenarios.

If Purpose, So Meaning

Stylization reflects aesthetic sense.

As manner and gesture reflect tone and attitude, the artistic representation references tradition and nature according to artist intent. Impressions are thus altered as they become expressions.

Simplicity, Upon Reflection

Art offers perspective; propaganda indoctrinates.

Inability to form and sustain coherent thought, or to follow another's line of reasoning through a sequence of ideas, defines a state of mindlessness.

This is neither a "natural" state nor an "unselfconsciousness" one, though it is often so described by those who take advantage of it to manipulate people to various ends, criminal, social, and political.

Word Falling

Perception conveys what words obscure.

Above, one does not see the fountain if the attention is directed elsewhere, yet it is nonetheless real. Until it is seen, it is beyond awareness,  Once seen, it remains in mind and experience.

Language, particularly that which is highly "controlled" through cultural or political coercion, limits understanding to certain select elements of approved jargon and verbal cues, ultimately limiting the capacity to think independently.  This is, in point of fact, the goal of such constraints.

Visual and sound arts direct experience beyond the merely material and physical.  Abstract concepts and metaphysical fundamentals do not cease to exist simply because one will not acknowledge their being and reality.

There are essential expressions that will not be reduced to propaganda or subjugated to temporal power.

Rule and Order

Foundation yields meaning.

One incapable of sustained, rational thought cannot comprehend how any artist conceives, works, and expresses.  This is a perpetual issue within the arts themselves.

It is the scenario in which is found the soi-disant charlatan, capable only of  poor imitation, and unfit for the responsibility required of any chosen role.  Such a malign character imposes a huge, particularly repellent burden upon the arts, seeking nothing more than self-aggrandizement while spoiling the repute of any expressive field with meaningless, pretentious absurdities.  Destined for failure, most produce nothing, others go unheeded, while some small numbers benefit, in the way of predators and parasites, from the arbitrary distribution of government funding.

The solution remains what it has always been: rational thought, decisive action, and intolerance not only for fraud and corruption, but for the conditions which make it possible for them to thrive.

Exercise IV

Listen, and hear, while analyzing detail.

Consciously describe the specifics of each sound in an environment.  Determine each source, and identify the qualities of each element, clarifying objective comprehension of such things as tone, color, and pattern. Take account of subjective responses and relevant aesthetic perspectives.

Mentally delineate the sonic structures and juxtapositions that the imagination suggests.  Apply these experiences to the work of composing and recording representative expressions.