I’ve seen books with titles, HOW TO LOOK AT ART and HOW TO READ A POEM, and all I can think is that if you have to be TAUGHT how to see or read something, then there’s something wrong with the art or the writing.
Art and poetry are emotions brought to life in the physical world. Reading a book can kill that experience, if you’re busy looking for a brushstroke or wondering what the artist was REALLY saying. A poem shouldn’t be hard to understand, and if it is, it was probably written for someone else.
HOW TO books aren’t books about artists or writers, they tell you what to see, how to LOOK.
Art is always up to the viewer, through her/his feelings. Reading about what other people think you should see, can easily destroy the intimate relationship one has with seeing something personal and meaningful for the very first time.
If you trust yourself, then you have everything you need to see beauty and love poetry.
Art is a physical reaction. A person can walk by a million paintings and suddenly stop and stand for an hour, looking at something, others continue to walk by without a second glance. THAT’S WHAT ART IS. A person can read a million poems and suddenly have to get a certain one framed or tattooed on their skin. THAT’S WHAT POETRY IS. You can’t teach those reactions. Not EVER. If you destroy that…you destroy what art is.
I was at an art fair and saw journals with the pages torn. It was incredible. So beautiful, I’ve never forgotten what I saw. She just RIPPED the paper but it was gorgeous. You can’t LEARN how to see that. You have to be it, ready to open yourself to what’s around you, in order to let the beauty and words inside. No one can give that to you. No one can put THAT into a book. It’s who you are. Nurture that part of yourself, because that’s where all the good stuff is.
Rethinking Life 
Comments on: "Okay, so…" (16)
xoxoxoxo
Thank you. It’s certainly true for me.
… and I use the library system to get my hands on what I want to read. I fear the library system is under attack, big time.
It’s the commercial reality. If you can’t afford to buy the book, you can’t read it.
I would continue on with my comment, but I hate swearing in public.
I agree. I’m not sure if the government is watching everything we read, but they wanted lists of everything we bought at bookstores, if we used their customer discount cards. I know Barns was fighting with them, at one point. I don’t know how it came out in the end but I don’t use a customer card any longer. I let it expire. They still know what we buy on Amazon and I don’t doubt they are monitoring what we take out of the libraries. You can swear in public. It’s okay. 🙂 Love to the fuzzy ones.
This is why I go to the ATM, and take money out. Then I pay cash for everything. The gov’t does not need to know what brand of toilet paper I buy. I’ve been boycotting Amazon for about 2 years now. I refuse to set up a FB account. I held back on an Instagram acct., but I just started one for Art Gowns. The bio is about the Art Gowns, not me. I have a static website for my work, and my WP blogs.
That’s enough exposure.
I sure am happy I met you out here!
We gotta take a few chances! xx J&J send fuzz back & Johnny wants to know if Em would prefer tummy fur, or top fur? 😀
I pay cash for everything but trips. And Amazon. I’m sure they are trying to take over the world. They have Whole Foods and they are trying to get a chain of small department stores. I still order books from them. I need to stop that. Em said she’ll have to think about the fur, since summer is coming, but she’ll let him know. She sends thanks and hugs to Jeep and Johnny. 🙂 Mew.
Uch… I don’t shop at Whole Effin Foods. I live by one of the last shopping villages in TO. I support the local vendors and their small local growers. May they last in peace.
Johnny said he loves Em. He will save his fur until winter. ❤ Mew!
I get my French Granola and Ancient Grain Bread there. That’s it. I can get the granola at one other store but not the bread. We don’t have any local shops or I would definitely go there. When I was a kid that’s where we got everything, at the local, independent stores. Independents are pretty much gone.
that’s what i think too. i read some of those books, it always left me with a feeling of: i didn’t get it. but when i read, i feel (poetry) … but, wenn i see, i feel (the art). i stopped reading it. thank you for your excellent post. have a great day. best regards from germany.
Thank you so very much. I think those books are a form of hive mind, or group control, so that every one sees the same thing, no matter where they look. The people in power are always trying to take away our freedom to THINK FOR OURSELVES. Art has become MONEY now. I was at the Louvre, listening to a guide and all I could think was, “I don’t care how it changed art, or why he painted it, I don’t like it at all and it repels me.” LOLOL Art is about passion and that’s all we really need to know. You feel it in poetry, perfect. In this day an age I think our feelings are being killed off by overexposure and How-to books. Thank you so much for your lovely comment.
thank you too!
i watched a documentary about art, you might like it too. watch this (if you like)
Thank you. It’s on my list to watch. 🙂
hope you enjoy. 🙂
this following one i liked too. i never heard of jean michel basquiat before. great artist.
(but don’t worry, i will not send you every documentary, that i watch. just these two. 🙂
have a great day.
Please, feel free to send anything you like, always. I love it. And yes, he was a great artist. I love his work. Thank you for the video. I’m going to watch both of them this evening. I’m so happy you know who he is now, and can enjoy his work. I’m learning so much about women artists right now…reading like crazy and it’s wonderful. 🙂 Not the old ones, the artists from NY after WW II. So cool to learn about them. Because until now, their work and lives have been hidden or over shadowed by the men at that time, and their husbands. They were amazing women. Strong, independent and talented.
Totally agree! Well put!
Thank you so very much. 🙂