Miz Elaneus

There's an old question of whether things are always deteriorating culturally, but it's difficult when there's more of everything all the time. Are things just getting lost? Do people make their money differently and therefore we can't go by salary?

I think Hirst and Koons and Murakami are probably close to the top three visual artists in terms of salary, you could put Gerhard Richter and Jasper John's in there but they're both way past 90 years old so, hard to think of them as contemporary in the same way. Beeple, or whatever the fuck his name is is also up there in terms of earnings. Who knows what rich people do with their money.

So what will it be, Tumblr? Is art getting worse? Is people's taste getting worse?

But I do get it. If you’re young and this is a contemporary of yours in the here and now—she speaks to you undoubtedly.

But. Not to me.

I’m too old for her writing to effect me the way I need to be effected by a mutual.

I can say, after reading a really large amount of online poets, there is a reason you will find us clustered in general age grouping supporting one another.

There is a reason the classic poets are astounding.

There’s no money in poetry. Anyone who spent years ‘trying’ to be a poet knows this.

You are either a poet or you are not. You are either to someone’s taste or are not.

And yes. Poets and artists of all varieties generally do get better as they age. They just do. I follow quite a few young IG poets and goodness I like them. They are very good. Better by far than Rupi. But they’re mostly unknown. And definitely unpublished. But you see, they write anyways. Honest and ugly words. Not for the commercial appeal.

I recall when the internet decided writing poetry was going to be the latest trend. For all of us then, who had never written and been read, this was, astounding. But. The moment, for most of us, we were read by loved ones, friends, family, the vice of scrutiny destroyed us. Tore our voice to shreds.

No one ever read our little scribblers before and there was something very magical about being read. And then, we thought maybe we could stay honest and share it with those who we thought we mattered most to.

We learned, we could not.

And this is why Rupi and others who were very good online, became very bad on paper, I believe.

It takes a kind of self destructive commitment to the art to share it publicly. You will tear out the souls of those you love. They will see the creature you kept hidden.

Check how many authors and poets have intact love lives and hordes of true friends. It’s not to typical.

You get better with age because the art demands your honesty and sometimes you get brave enough to sacrifice everything to be true to your art form.

From Beforetimes

Kawase Hasui(川瀬巴水), Night Sea, 1930 (possibly a detail)

Grrr!

Guillermo Deisler (1940-1995) was a Chilean artist who worked in stage design, woodcut printing, visual poetry, and the early global mail art movement.

Deisler was born in Santiago, but spent most of his life in East Germany. In 1973, he was arrested during the military coup in Chile and was forced into exile. He lived in France and Bulgaria, but eventually settled in East Germany.

He created artist books and unique mail art using rubber stamps and poetic imagery, blending word and picture. In 1987, he launched UNI/vers(;), also known as the Peacedream project—an international mail art publication with 35 issues, bringing together visual and experimental poets from around the world.

This publication entitled “Grrr” is an invitation to create meaning of this word on your own.

The note from the publisher in Spanish is translated as below:

“Grrr grrrr gr grrrrrrr gr grrrrrrrrr gr……

We invite readers to create their own translation of this message.”

This publication is a facsimile reissue of Guillermo Deisler’s artist’s book made in Antofagasta, Chile in 1969, under the aegis of Ediciones Mimbre (1963-1973). The facsimile publication was produced by Naranja Publicaciones after 50 years of its first publication. 500 copies were made that maintain the narration of the original and different printing techniques such as risography, letterpress, screen printing and stamping have been mixed.

You will find this and other artists’ publishing collections in our Reading Room.

Meet Davy’s naked-backed bat (Pteronotus davyi)! This species, which can be found in parts of Central and South America, preys mostly on moths and flies. It uses echolocation to hunt by night, and can detect prey as small as 0.08 in (0.2 cm) in size from nearly 2.46 ft (0.75 m) away in darkness. Often feeding above water, this bat also has the ability to drink on the go—a phenomenon known as “drinking on the wing.”