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black boxes, fear, anarchy,

updated mon 30 dec 02

 

Philip Poburka on sun 29 dec 02

Civil Disobedience - Catherine's Question answer'd...

Dear Catherine,

In answer to your question...

I see cardboard boxes painted 'black' with the word 'fear'
writ upon them, taped to a 'wall'...



Anymore than that...and I am liable to depart from my happy
interior economy.

The intimations, allusions, evocations, associations,
inferences, permutations, ramifications, 'political'
considerations, theological or metaphysical connections and
suggestions I see or may see in the 'commonplace' of every
day 'life', are far more compelling to invite what attention
I have to give to things, or what wit or interest I may have
to do so.

Most things I tend to 'see' in a matter-of-fact way,
although what the 'facts' OF the 'matter' may be to me, can
differ markedly from those apprehended by my fellows, should
they happen to apprehend any at all.

For me, the 'Art' as most matter, is what people Live...

The presence they have in their actions, the presence in
their 'presence' of what they do and how they do it. The
qualities of their being as are 'said' in the continuity and
occupations of their days...

I have never liked the popular notion that 'Art' should be
so abstracted from 'Life'...or that so many other things
would be as well.

Hence...the deliberate expressions calculated to be 'Art'
usually bore me...

In a museum or gallery, I may be more interested in the
'broom' the janitor left in the corner, or a Cricket
creeping along the wall, whom I shall gently place out in
the shrubs...lite a cigarette and stay out there with
him...and wander home...gently grateful to get out of
there...than I am interested 'in'...the 'Art'...



Phil
Las Vegas


----- Original Message -----
From: "Catherine White"
To:
Sent: Sunday, December 29, 2002 4:58 PM
Subject: Re: Black Boxes, Fear, Anarchy, Civil Disobedience


There are many critiques of the artist's rights and his
wrongs, but how do
various ClayArters
personally interpret what the artist was saying? This is a
serious question
to me. I had already described what I "saw" in an earlier
message. What do
others "see?"
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Here's my earlier comment........
My interpretation of the black cardboard boxes labeled
"FEAR" is that
they
represent an empty unreasoning fear that so many have
adopted as a way of
life......... That the empty black boxes symbolize that
fear. That the fear
is so amorphous that it has to be labeled so that it can be
recognized. The
news channels deliver the fear endlessly but it has no face.
The artist gave
it a face: Empty black-painted cardboard boxes neatly
labeled.

Was it our long ago President Roosevelt who said that the
only thing we have
to fear is fear itself?
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Catherine in Yuma, AZ

===================================================
> an artist, particularly a
> performance artist, must be aware of his audience in order
to be able to
> convey his message.

> Our artist did get a reaction to his piece, albeit not the
one he was
after.

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