"To perceive is to suffer." - Aristotle

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Just a little paragraph I found to share my ideals.

Boiled down, these trips we're on are precariously short. They are magically abrupt, truncated briefings on the bigger pictures that we'll only get to step back from long, long after we can do anything about them. We won't be able to pull out the frame. We won't be able to tuck at the corners. We'll not be able to make ourselves look better in the photographs taken to recall these days. We'll not be able to take ourselves out of any of these photographs, nor will we be able to insert the people into them that we really wished were there at the times that we needed them to be there, or wanted them to be there. These are the heroic, solitary journeys that are done quietly, without so much as a hello or goodbye, just those footnotes that we give them. If only we were allowed some mulligans or given the chance to do a little editing, heaven help us. We'd make something spectacular out of these spare parts and these wild, flaying brambles. We are left out here with our limps, our eyes, our hearts and some spare change and we're supposed to get around on our own. We're supposed to figure it all out. We're supposed to find the right words to be said to the person or people in our lives who deserve all the right words being said to them. We're supposed to figure out the appropriate people to place our love in and we're to do so in a goddamn hurry. We're not supposed to mess it up over and over. We're supposed to get brighter and we're supposed to figure it out - figure out how to be right, to not feel broken all the time and how to makes others feel right and not so broken all of their time.

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Societies Media Deception.

I hate society and the media there within. I really do. Here is the stupid part though, to me media is a necessary evil. I can't tell you I refuse to watch television, because i don't. I actually embrace it. I use it as a way to pass time and take my mind off of the evils of life. I watch others fake lives and make believe for the time that its real. Their problems become the focus of that time instead of our own. At least for me anyway. Its a corruption of our minds though. In essence its a brainwashing. It tells us that the dramatized fake realities are normal. It tells us those dramatized lives are reality, when in reality they are not. I watch television knowing this is happening to me. I hate that this is what television does. Media tells us its absolutely necessary to have a counterpart no matter how old you are. This is not true. I believe people need to discover themselves before they embark on a journey with another. Media corrupts this truth though and tells us, no you need a person of the opposite sex to venture life with, always. In turn we watch this through the media and it develops a sort of peer pressure. We feel the need to relate and follow the norm of media. It's interesting. People don't realize television brainwashes them. The government is interesting. I love how hypocritical the government is. I love how hypocritical everyone is. Media is a distraction from real life and it corrupts minds, but we watch it anyways. To bring this fact out is the sole purpose if this post.

Painting the Film

I've had this theory for a while that I've been meaning to share. Considering photography to be an art form has long been debated. I have my own view on this as all do. Personally, I am a photographer, I am a creative and artistic individual. First to dive in to this discussion we must first come to common ground on what "art" is. Merriam-Webster's first definition of art is as follows, and I quote, "skill acquired by experience, study, or observation". Dictionary.com's first definition is as follows "the quality, production, expression, or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance." By these definitions there is no argument that photography can be called art. It also can be called just that, photography. Though it depends on the photographer and his shots. It really is a matter of opinion. I must say though, I have seen many beautiful shots from a camera. Dare I say more beautiful than some famous paintings, which no one dares to say painting is no art form. Some may say, though, photography can be considered art, sure, a lazy man's art. A machine does the work for you! I have a further argument though. Just the way a painter composes his painting, a photographer composes his shot. The only difference? A painter makes the composition from scratch, a photographer has to work with what he is given and make it beautiful. He arranges what he is given in front of him and works himself around that to compose a beautiful shot. Is that easier than placing subjects on the canvas exactly where you want them? It's just different. A painter is a specific type of person, just as a writer is. We are all creative individuals, we simply work with our creative tendencies in different ways, different mediums. Is painting hard work? Sure it is! It takes a lot of hard work, whether mixing colors to perfection, or emulating the real world through paint, it most certainly is work. I argue though, that photography is not easier. Sure you have a device that "paints" for you, but arranging the elements in the shot is the difficult part. Yes anyone can take a picture. But that's what separates an artistic photographer from just any one clicking a camera. Remember our definitions? If someone studies photography, with the goal of producing aesthetically pleasing photographs, it in effect becomes art. When forced not to create on canvas something aesthetically pleasing, but arrange elements in front of you photography becomes work. It becomes art.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

The Inevitable Algorithm of Life.

Would you my reader like to know the algorithm of life? Well today I'm offering just that. The price? Minutes of your time and the reading of this post. Yes that's it folks. Quite the deal we have here. Jump on it before its too late. Well you see, life is not like a freaking box of chocolates. If it were I would be quite happy. I rarely ever pick up a chocolate i dislike out of those variety boxes. Life is very much not that way. You see life is actually like a rollercoaster. The ups and downs. It always, and I don't care who disagrees with this statement, fools, it ALWAYS goes this way. You get to the top and things are going great. The sun is there, you are on top of your game, everything is seeming to go your way. Nothing can get you down, You are on top of the world! The negatives of life fade to the back as if transparent. And than just like that. They all come crashing to the foreground of everything. Yes that's right, you are descending the rail at the speed of light it seems. You come to the bottom and everything seems to plateau. Everything still sucks, but hey at least its steady.. And you inevitably begin to ascend again and things get better and better until once again you are at the top .. Awaiting the great inevitable fall once again. Sometimes the drop isn't as far as other times. But this is the algorithm of life. I've figured it out.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Thoughts From A Creative Mind About Creativity.

Hello all, indeed it has again been some time since my last post. I apologize yet again. Tonight I sat down and said I want to blog. So I pop open blogger and hit new post. To my dismay a topic of discussion eludes me. So I sit and think of a topic. I realize the topic of creativity is an interesting one so I decide to go with that, but as i write this, I'm finding more appealing the analysis of my lack of a discussion point. Usually A topic is ready and willing to jump from my brain to the letters on a page. Why this time have I not something to talk about? At least immediately not, as usual. I find the idea that perhaps the recent happenings in my life might by chance be involved in the lack of things to complain about. Which is a good thing I suppose. But does this mean my blog will suffer? I think not. I think perhaps I'm just used to writing about things I dislike, when in fact I can write about good things in life.. Like the recent Lunar Eclipse to coincide with the winter solstice. This hasn't happened since 1638.. What a privilege! NASA reports it wont happen again until 2094. Maybe I'll catch it again than.. Assuming I live until 103. Anyhow, that is a topic for another discussion. Back to the lack of things to complain about. Things have been quite good recently. I'm starting to see my path in the art world. When realizing this was the industry that was meant for me, a huge wave of relief fell upon me. I had no idea of where to go, what i wanted to do, or what I really was good at as far as a career path. I'm naturally a creative person, unfortunately I was raised in a house with a lack of appreciation for the arts. So I never realized how much I loved the arts until fairly recently. With this realization spawned the desire to go to school for it. It has made me quite happy. My art is starting to become appreciated. My artwork is in its infancy stages and of course that means not a lot of people have seen it, but of the little who have, most I understand to see great potential in it. Which of course makes me happy. In addition to this I've befriended someone. Yes, Ill answer your question, it is a female. -Laughing to himself-. She is quite a person. She uses her brain, which is becoming less and less common. She is bit of a dork like myself, which is something I find appealing. That quirky sense of humor and appreciation for deeper things. She is an analyst like myself, but does not go too far in over-analyzing. Which can be quite a tricky thing to do. I think the thing I love the most though is that she understand how my mind works, and thinks very similarly. This is huge to me. I never thought I'd find someone who fully comprehended myself and how I think, But I think I have now. She certainly has been making me quite happy, and I believe will continue to do so. Thus the lack of things to complain about. Anyhow now that I've reached a point of analysis that I feel answers my question let us proceed to the topic of creativity. Creativity is an interesting thing. God is the foremost creative entity, and us being made in his image must mean we all have a degree of creativity in us. Of course we are all diverse and have different amounts of our qaulities. That being said, people who posses a little more creativity and act upon it I will call creative people. I think curiosity and creativity compliment eachother but are not required to posses one or the other. A curious person dives deeper into things, he longs to understand. A creative person sees more than the average person, he sees colors, shades, textures and shapes. Both think a little deeper than average, thus are in a way similar. On the subject of creativity and the arts. A creative person is not necessarily artistic, but more often than not, the creativity is nurtured in this facet. Creative people in my opinion think differently than less than creative people. With all of the sensory stimuli, other people do not acknowledge, comes a different way of seeing the world and consequently an altered way of thinking. I believe most creative people to be liberal minded. I think it takes an open mind to see the world the way creative people do. It's against the norm. No matter what people say, there most certainly is a central idea in society of how to view life. Creative people break free of that view and strive to understand life on their own independent terms. Their independent view usually shines forth in their work, as they strive to share their veiws with others, who they see as lost. I enjoy my unique view of life.

Saturday, October 30, 2010

The Pains of Perception.

Indeed it is I, Christopher, back from my hiatus which i sincerely apologize for, and will say for now will not happen again for a bit, I'm going to try to stay dedicated to keeping this updated and again I sincerely apologize. I'm here now for a special reason though. I'd like to heal myself through words, and i most certainly hope you do not feel used, far be that from the case. I'd like to talk about that quote on the top of the page. To perceive is to suffer - penned by one of mans great thinkers Aristotle. These five words have the power of a thousand. Perception to some, may simply mean how one sees and understands something. But if we really break down what perception is, it is far deeper than that simple definition. You see perception is everything we see and come to realize and acknowledge. Its how we see things and as different individuals we all have different levels and ways of perception. Some "better", some "worse", some false, some true. Those who see things for what they really are usually pained by what they see. Those clouded by false perceptions are usually content and happy. After all whats that famous adage? "Ignorance is bliss" is that it? In addition to this our intuition is shaped from our perception. From this intuition we see things further which can be upsetting at times, but hey the truth hurts sometimes, right? I still can't figure out which side is better.. I love who I am and what i perceive but it hurts a lot. As a take-away I am awarded with a unique way of seeing the world and because of this, beautiful words of recognition. Also I posses an appreciation for aesthetics most lack. But is this better than blissfully residing in ignorance? I suppose it is what it is, and we all will use our personal condition to the full. The result? .....

The eyes of many see none of which are
The trepidation of truth
Sitting on a high throne from afar


Though there be few with opened eyes
Pained by sorrowful factuality
We not deceive ourselves with lies
But see what be in actuality

This be what seperate us from them
Happiness and Sadness
The place where fact and fiction stem

Friday, October 1, 2010

My Mondrian

Piet Mondrian was a famous dutch painter. His artwork, most know, is characterized by cubism. His work, though part of a movement at the time, is in my opinion highly original. His compositions with Black lines and colors within the squares or rectangles is genius. Though to many it may be thought to be extremely simplistic, and not worthy of any credit. To thinkers, such as myself, there is much to be credited to Mondrian. To balance this work is genius in itself. Its not just lines, four-sided shapes, and colors, there is a major balance between all the elements, that one could easily overstep in either direction. But Mondrian finds a way to balance it all perfectly. The world is made of nothing but shapes, And Mondrian knew this. This is why cubism as a movement is extremely credible and indefinitely intriguing. The artist deconstructs a subject and reassembles its shapes abstractly and yet elegantly. Picasso, Another well know Mexican artist Pioneered this movement. Cubism. Genius. Dare I to imitate Mondrian? I do. Its not quite balanced as perfectly as his, but its a step in the right direction i believe. Enjoy.