But does Art have to be so serious?

In subject matter: Yes.
In method: No.

I've just read some discussions on the definitions of Art, (Abstraction / Realism etc, etc) And once again (as many times before) I've just got irritated by it... 

Are we not forgetting something? 

... behind all the analysis ("anal-ysis") and business of Art, there's the very simple truth that we just want to make stuff. We want to leave our mark, a statement, a point of view. We want to capture a moment, a mood. And in so doing perhaps we even want to achieve immortality.  

But why all the stuff about HOW we do it?

Surely its all, essentially, graffiti on a wall.  

The WAY its made: style, influence, technique, genre, value etc all seem to be focused on so much that the original intention of the artist can be lost. 

This little girl seems to know what Art's about, so why don't the "experts"?

* * *

"Art (like life) is much too important to be taken seriously" Anonymous

"I myself never know if I am actually joking or if I'm only being serious" Salvadore Dali

My teaching takes the same stance too, away with all the theory, lets just do it.  Details on website: www.katenewlyn.com.

Oh and another thing...

BULLY by Kate Newlyn

"Oh and another thing ..."  (while I'm on a berating-binge)

              

Inventing problems - (don't get me started on inventing problems ...)  

 More sculptures on the website: www.katenewlyn.com.

A Sculpture to illustrate how we normally live ...

BAGGAGE by Kate Newlyn

     www.katenewlyn.com.

This is what I want to change.

Bonkers isn't it. 

Does life have to be this hard? 



Would've been so much easier for this guy to've just picked that feather up.

Some more sculptures along these lines on the website 

MY FIRST BLOG-POST

All Hail! (or preferably: all Sunshine please). Talking of which ... 

It's Saturday morning and for about half an hour the rain stopped and the sun came out. I stood in a muddy field, wellies ankle-deep, facing the sun. I closed my eyes and stayed completely still, thinking of nothing - Nothing. 

When I opened them again (just a few mins later) I felt completely different ... relaxed, calm, positive, energised... this is the state I want to live in. And the state I want to create in.  

I've made sculptures in a turmoil of emotion before now, (fast, furious and sometimes effective because of the immediacy), but how much clearer to LIVE in a state of harmony and create from a calm perspective.

"Emotion recollected in tranquility" (Wordsworth)... He had a point.

It was good to feel that sun again and that relaxation. They weren't kidding then, all those folk who've been banging on about meditation for centuries... 

How I've managed to avoid it for so long beats me. Too busy I guess. Busy. Hell.  

Well, now: I'm onto it. Calmness here we come!

My sister Sally knew about the magic of this, years ago. And the tragedy of it too. 

This is a sculpture I made in 1999, commissioned by her while she was dying of cancer. She wanted to celebrate the most important thing we all hold: The "NOW". And it is the most important, she was damn right! 

So was Eliot:

"Quick, now, here, now, always.

A condition of complete simplicity,

Costing not less than everything"

(T.S.Eliot.  The Four Quartets )

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

The Science of Mindfulness

There's a very interesting discussion, from a scientific viewpoint, on the merits (if not miracles) of meditation on Youtube.  Here's the link below:

The Science of Mindfulness

(For some more of my sculptures on similar subjects to this go to www.katenewlyn.com)... I'll also post a few images here on this Blog...