dvd>>>stash 31 & what is "the new"???

liked this as much as #33 & would watch it again/recommend to others

relates to me in the same way the rest of this series has.
-------

yesterday, while rereading some of my notes from my crit theory class at aib, i came across the statement instructor stuart steck made:


"that it was important for an artist to be of his/her time"


i think this is true & part of my pursuit to keep abreast of "the new" (and the reason for watching dvds like stash).

yet, i am unsure how to define myself & "my time."

a whole lot has happened in my lifetime up to now & i do not define myself by any one group. meaning:
i am tail end 60's (too young,yet witnessed)
sorta gen x
yet in/aware of/enjoy >>>but not "of " the up & coming "gameboy generation."

each generation has a distinct identity & merge or transition, yet don't.

the "new" that i see is steeped in technology > cable tv/dvd, cell phones, chatrooms, myspace, podcast, 3d software/games, star wars, ren & stempy, tv sitcoms,even more fast food/microwave,pop culture, & the all mighty internet. their penchant for images/output references this. the wwII, post wwII, 60's, & gen x created these things, yet are not "of" them in the same way.

how does this multimedia/instant access perspective translate to an image created on paper or canvas (with no electronics attached)?

looking at this from the art standpoint is hard, yet thinking of the political, historical, scientific, cultural markers for these dif generations makes it harder to distill into generations & self identity. what is my time other than now?
what is the "now" school/ideology of art at this moment?
seems to be many + the old ones & pseudo-old ones are still kicking around.
muddy waters indeed ...

in painting, there is nothing new i can bring to it, in the sense that paint is paint & behaves in a certain matter dictated by the laws of physics, same for the brush. all that is new is in what we know & in things that did not exist before. science & our perception of reality, technology, new materials, global events of consequence, social changes that are unique in history (is this possible? % of educated populous perhaps?). how does one bring this to canvas?

in the past, art movements did parallel & reflect the new ideas of the day. cubism reflected einstein's time continuum/nonlinear time/simultaneous existence in space ideas. the impressionist's use of blue reflected the science discoveries/theories about light. so how would one set out to do this representation consciously? for example, how would you translate the string theory to paint? or the existence of more that 20-something dimensions (lost count>they keep adding more)? or the new perspectives on gravity? not to express using the image/technique repertoire we have at this moment, but to formulate a new one > for paint. this is hard for me to wrap my brain around, yet wish i could. have studied some of this science stuff thinking it would relate to art somehow, yet do not see it--yet. it seems that most of the art that reflected new knowledge did so inadvertently & on an unconscious level. so maybe it is happening now & will reveal itself in hindsight?

sol lewitt said in paragraphs on conceptual art

"new materials are one of the great afflictions of contemporary art. some artists confuse new materials with new ideas. there is nothing worse than seeing art that wallows in gaudy baubles. by & large most artists who are attracted to theses materials are the ones that lack the stringency of mind that would enable them to use the materials well. it takes a good artist to use new materials and make them into a work of art. the danger is, i think, in making the physicality of the materials so important that it becomes the idea of the work (another kind of expressionism)." ***

good thing i do not embrace ideology of conceptual art >>> i would fall short on many fronts. yet, this paragraph does introduces some new questions to consider when creating art with new stuff. for me it is less about the material & more about getting to a fresh look (to be surprised/enchanted during the process of creation).

so i guess i am back to the idea of painting with/on new materials & trusting in the fact that whatever of the "new" that i have ingested will manifest whither i like it or not.

this is not "it", yet will have to suffice until i get cleverer or someone who is>>> does.

*** fyi: can not do the proper indentation of the more than 3 sentence quote on a blog>so i went with marks rather since italics were too subtle.