Thursday, January 20, 2011

There is No Spoon and I Must Eat

D'j'ever stare at a word so long it disintegrated into its component letters and meant nothing? For some reason I do this most often with short words containing W. IOWA. OWL. WON. OWN. WORK. WISE. But it'll happen to any word. Most pictures, too. Digital ones particularly break down into pixels and become visual hash even if the resolution is good. But even a photo from film or a painting can become a meaningless jumble of eyes, branches, fence slats, light, shade.

Your life, your work, and your self will do the same thing if you stare at them long enough.

Usually, this is a bad idea. Human beings can't deal without structure. We need it so much we manufacture it where none exists. Destroy your structure, you destroy your capacity to function.

However, if you're trapped within a structure - your sense of identity, your culture, your subculture, the "rules" of your art - staring at it till it disintegrates long enough for you to escape is a good idea. You'll be able to make a new one for yourself, don't worry. Just make sure the new structure you build is larger and suits your needs better.

Use your best judgment.

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