Invite me to your next party. I’m likely to bring an obscure bottle of alcohol and poke the bear, no not the hostess, The Bear. While not exactly a snob, I’ve been to too many parties where small talk and alcohol budget have reigned supreme. Life lessons from my Father… My Son, life is too short to be wasted on cheap booze. Bring your own libation of choice and you’ll never be disappointed with the evening. Alas, I digress. Once I’ve settled in with beverage in hand and enjoyed your delightful abode, I will promptly hijack your party for twenty odd minutes, thirty if I’m lucky. Hijack you say? Yes, conversationally held hostage a la verbal point. As much as I’m hungry for the delights of the in-house chef, I’m also hungry for intellectual conversation and conquest.
To those who frequent my company with regularity will note, small talk is abridged and depths are tested, and to newcomers, a level of arrogance is detected, as I suppose you might be surmising in this bit of prose previous. At my last engagement the charming hostess posited that “Fine Art is Dead” as she set down the tray of charcuterie. My first time at one of her parties and the bear had been poked. There was no going back. This would be the rollercoaster for the next twenty minutes.
Absolutes. Who has time for such obtuse thinking? However the game was afoot, and delightful conversation was to be had. My takeaway was thus dear readers… regardless of how you view/define fine Art, through technique/technological innovation, or centuries old craft development, (A conversation around which we could have for weeks)… we who create strive to do so because we can, we must, for self expression, otherwise what’s the point?
No one strives to make dull Art. In some form or fashion, regardless of where one is in the process, the idea of Art being Fine is inherent in the makeup to art making. And then again, when one stumbles upon the story of a Dutch/Spanish visionary fashion designer making one-off, one of a kind custom high fashion luxury pieces amidst a pandemic, one can’t help but think… perhaps her work is wearable Fine Art?
