Spyre on Nostr: Beauty is valuable for its own sake. Art isn't about the artist, but about what it ...

Beauty is valuable for its own sake. Art isn't about the artist, but about what it takes to make art. Joyce called art, "communication with the transcendent divine," and so I have replaced what used to be creation for ego (for the applause) into creation for the sake of being closer to those that create. For some folks, I suppose they would call that "god" or The Great Creator, but for me, it's simply being in the brotherhood of all those who have constructed superfluous beauty, for no other reason than to fill the world with amazement. When I see great works of art, I feel that I'm a part of that. I'm no longer a solitary person, but another artist continuing with the perpetual, inventive, struggle of procreation (albeit in another form). This is a way of asserting the process of individuation in myself, and at the same time, affirming what I am is good because I make good things.

My purpose has (fortunately) been easy to identify. I make art. Good, beautiful, wonderful, emotional, pretty, art. I do not conflate myself with the work, but let it grow from me. I'm not here to make a "statement" or produce some technical feat of imagery. Just making something more beautiful when I leave than when I arrived, is all that I need to do. It's not easy, because anything that's beautiful will never be easy, but fire feeds on obstacles, and art is a difficult and endless obstacle.

Right now, I'm developing what I call "semiotic alchemy" which is my way of turning ordinary things into beautiful things through painting. I have a lot to learn still, but I've been able to build a small studio, and find some quiet time to explore my ideas. It's absolute bliss and I am following this vein of gold until the end.

Thanks for asking! I'm curious if you have also found your own personal creek to pan for gold? I would like to think we all have somewhere inside of us, that holds the flecks of creation, waiting to be sifted.