#cherrina

I’m posting my Art Fight attacks this year! Here’s the first few!!

Koi from @ Nomishungry

Retroid from @ SeaDragonGamer1928

Cherrina from @ SallyWalterson

Irony...

I started with the question, “What use is art?” That is - what is art’s purpose and significance?

Two branches stemmed from this question. 

One: As people see the world in color, so do they see in art. It is how people see the world. Through art, a person’s invisible and internal mind is revealed, so that other people can step inside for a moment and see what the artist sees. I’ve always wanted to go inside Allison’s head and see how her mind thinks. But now I realize that I have -- through seeing her photos, written thoughts and Garageband recordings. The canvas (aka: photograph, musical piece, napkin, etc.) is the window to the soul of the artist.

Two: As trees inhale carbon dioxide and exhale oxygen, so do people respond to life, with art. Through art, a person’s personal and incomprehensible scope of vision is revealed, so that other people can step into first-player mode for a moment and see as the artist sees. The canvas (aka: poem, sculpture, software code, etc.) is the mirror to the world, as seen and beheld by the artist.

What use, then is art? 

Friendship is a rocky boat.

Friendship is treasure.

Friendship is the testing ground that reveals one’s character, wholeness (or brokenness), and understanding of love.

Friendship is a basic human need, as flowers need air, sun and water.

Friendship is worth the long nights.

Every human being works, as one is able. Work doesn’t necessarily need to be the epitome of significance and meaning in one’s life. Work sometimes is just work. A means to an ends. People need to work to live, and people learn a lot from working, even if it’s not what they enjoy doing most.

I’ve worked at a bakery, a photography studio, and a restaurant. In each of these settings I gained such different experiential lessons that were more valuable than the money that I made from working there. Most of the time they are lessons about people. How to relate to people, how I communicate, how different people think and live differently than I. Funny how working seems to be an entirely self-centered effort, since it is an endeavor to be self-sustaining, yet the lessons learned are almost always about how to better be a human being within the sea of human beings around you.

Some say that the twenties are the prime time of a person's life. Others celebrate their rite into 30-hood as a long awaited escape from the tumultuous tides of twenty-ship. Perhaps these people just have different goals for life in mind? Maybe one values pleasure and youthful spontaneity, while the other deems wisdom and stability as their treasures?

What about me?

I used to think life after college would be so fun. Not right now. I wish I could fast forward my life maybe three or four years and find myself waking up to a settled routine, planned schedules and vacations, stable relationships and the familiar day to day. Maybe my ambition for life got hit by the devil's evil shrink ray. Why have my goals for life become so small and mediocre? Just to use up some of the oxygen in the air, leave some carbon footprints behind and then perish?

Twenty-something year olds are stereotypically the go-getters. Those who still believe in changing the world one campaign, start-up, or brilliant idea at a time. Has the rock in the road transformed me into a cynical bag of wrinkles that is simply so tired of everything under the sun?

All I have are questions. Where do I go to find the answers?