I Am Mother. Who are you?
It has only been a few weeks of 2015 and all is well! The sunrises are incredible, work has been interesting and I have already been to a wedding. Wonderful!
The picture says it all…
I hope that your year has started equally well and that it will continue to be an exciting and memorable part of your life journey.
Take care.
From the end of August, I spied hints of Christmas tucked away in nooks and crannies of shops. Sitting rather self-consciously, knowing that they were making an appearance, almost half a year before it was right and proper to do so, baubles, cards, tinsel, festoons, trees, gifts and all manner of completely unnecessary but “truly essential” snippets of Christmas paraphernalia were there. Brooding… and breeding!
With sullen determination, I studiously ignored them and then – as always – it was virtually the end of December and the usual festive “Oh my word, some of the shops will actually be closed for a whole twenty four hours and the earth might stop revolving as a result” panic gripped me in its frenzied jaws.
Each and every year I promise myself that it will be different. Each and every year it isn’t. I do have a tip for anyone else who suffers the same angst year or year…
Forget the bonhomie when inundated with Christmas card writing. (Folk, whom I love in October, are regarded as nothing less than poison ivy, in November, when I am faced with writing messages of peace and goodwill to them, shortly before having to sell a child to fund the cost of posting the missive.) This year, I discovered that there is a quick and most satisfying means of completing the task. Find a murder – either on the screen or on the radio – with a healthy body count, then whip out your pen and list. Hey presto!
Peace to you.
The joy of being a school governor is seemingly endless and, amongst the responsibilities of being a role model for students and a voice for parents, affords me the opportunity to engage with the day-to-day life of extraordinary young people. At every encounter, I have been impressed and inspired by their enthusiasm, which is why I am currently “up to my eyes” in course work for the Art GCSE which I am taking alongside a group of very encouraging and much amused Year 10s! (It seemed like a good idea at the time…)
One of “my” artists is Felix Gonzalez-Torres, a Cuban-American installation and process artist who inspired many before his death, in 1996, of the complications of AIDS. His work is exceptional and I would like to share an epiphany with you, with regard to his piece, “Untitled” 1992. I hope that you will be encouraged and motivated to discover more of the remarkable artwork of this talented man.
To put 180lbs of packaged hard boiled candy into the corner of a room and call it “art” may seem absurd, outrageous, nonsensical or even dishonest to some; but that is to miss the point. The intellectual capacity and originality to conceive and create a work through which birth and existence, decay, scorn/protest, joy, selflessness and loss, misunderstanding, selfishness and greed, sadism/exploitation/aggression, consumption, invitation/open-ness/interaction and death – in metaphor, the life cycle – is enacted, has to embody the seed of genius.
Key:
Birth and Existence – the work is created and displayed.
Decay – the artwork deteriorates, ages and degrades during its exposure to its environment.
Scorn/Protest – produced by the perception that no art, thought or effort exists within the work.
Joy – some viewers relish the invitation to treat themselves with delicious candy and feast physically and/or intellectually on the piece.
Selflessness and Loss – the artwork is diminished by public engagement.
Misunderstanding – some viewers take the work at face value and refuse (or lack the ability) to take the time or make the effort to comprehend the many facets and deeper meaning inherent in the piece.
Selfishness and Greed – some viewers take more of the work than they need without thought for the work itself or consideration of the impact of their actions on future viewers who may consequently be deprived of the best of the work, or indeed any of it!
Sadism/Exploitation/Aggression – some outraged viewers deliberately destroy that which they neither accept nor understand as a valid expression of “art”.
Consumption – viewers digest the work, both physically and metaphorically.
Invitation/Open-ness/Interaction – viewers are encouraged to participate in the artwork and engage with it.
Death – as the artwork fulfils its function and purpose, the candy is completely consumed, the wrappers tossed carelessly and thoughtlessly aside by most viewers and the whole work is biologically and physically recycled, leaving nothing but memories. “Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust…”
“Do You Hear the People Sing, Singing the Song of Angry Men?
It is the Music of a People Who Will Not Be Slaves Again.
When the Beating of Your Heart
Echoes the Beating of the Drums;
There is a Life About To Start When Tomorrow Comes…”
(Les Miserables)
