At the university they’re advocating the destruction of a historical mural depicting ideas they find offensive in a modern context, while at the same time, with great fanfare, they’re installing a stack of emotionally color-coded emojis somewhere on campus, at first glance age-appropriate for three year olds on a playground. Visually it’s pretty ugly unless you happen to like extruded plastic in bright toy colors, art fabricated in a sign shop somewhere. Its message runs perhaps a quarter of an inch deep, check your mood via emoji -- it isn’t art for adults. Overall, this is not a forward play.
It’s art that tells the story of consciousness, that’s its job, that’s what it is. If it’s impossible to see in the present, history can be pretty graphic. The smartest people in the epic called western civilization were the greeks, who flourished slightly before the christian era, and we know about them through their art. It’s their thinking that rules the world today, specifically Aristotle, the legitimate father of all our communication systems, and everything else we do, building bridges, writing laws, and seeking success in our daily lives. How did they get so smart?
Seems it must have had something to do with art, how they used it, and to what ends. The quickening of the greek mind likely began when a few gifted artists began to express their intelligence in marble statues, all that remains, and from their example ordinary people began to realize capacities they didn’t know they had. It’s amusing to note that in their democratic state, attendance at theatrical examinations of human frailties and conceits was mandatory. The state insisted its citizens ramp up, contend with complicated thoughts and get smarter. We’ve never heard their music, and their painting has mostly vanished, but what has survived in stone is intimidating. Contractors with modern machinery struggle to restore the Parthenon, and no one today could build a new one.
Of course, they were conscious of what they were doing, favoring human intellect over the unseen supernatural, and art was their instrument. The element communicated that went deeper than the myth depicted, was the level of thinking that could translate the story into stone. It’s still pretty awesome. Seems pretty crazy, really, that after all the centuries between, our government buildings, stately houses, and important churches all have greek columns serving no structural function whatever. The ancient greeks represent a lofty aspiration, and our last reminder of their intellect and grace is the face we present to the public, an artificial facade. Yet, better still are the vestigial columns of past glory than the demoralizing triviality of pop culture, non-offensive plastic public art.
It’s art that tells the story of consciousness, that’s its job, that’s what it is. If it’s impossible to see in the present, history can be pretty graphic. The smartest people in the epic called western civilization were the greeks, who flourished slightly before the christian era, and we know about them through their art. It’s their thinking that rules the world today, specifically Aristotle, the legitimate father of all our communication systems, and everything else we do, building bridges, writing laws, and seeking success in our daily lives. How did they get so smart?
Seems it must have had something to do with art, how they used it, and to what ends. The quickening of the greek mind likely began when a few gifted artists began to express their intelligence in marble statues, all that remains, and from their example ordinary people began to realize capacities they didn’t know they had. It’s amusing to note that in their democratic state, attendance at theatrical examinations of human frailties and conceits was mandatory. The state insisted its citizens ramp up, contend with complicated thoughts and get smarter. We’ve never heard their music, and their painting has mostly vanished, but what has survived in stone is intimidating. Contractors with modern machinery struggle to restore the Parthenon, and no one today could build a new one.
Of course, they were conscious of what they were doing, favoring human intellect over the unseen supernatural, and art was their instrument. The element communicated that went deeper than the myth depicted, was the level of thinking that could translate the story into stone. It’s still pretty awesome. Seems pretty crazy, really, that after all the centuries between, our government buildings, stately houses, and important churches all have greek columns serving no structural function whatever. The ancient greeks represent a lofty aspiration, and our last reminder of their intellect and grace is the face we present to the public, an artificial facade. Yet, better still are the vestigial columns of past glory than the demoralizing triviality of pop culture, non-offensive plastic public art.
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