Saturday, 28 June 2014

Whatever you do


Here some short notes and quotes from Art Burshy.
I ran into the artist last night in a dark alley as he was  unpacking some stuff.
Art jumped up all tensed and in panic when he heard me say hello from behind his back...clearly he was doing something forbidden or sneaky.


Art took some pieces from his bag and started to assemble; when my eyes were used to the darkness it looked like a huge pen. And I was surprised when Art started writing on the wall with it, in sort of calligraphic script.

"Whatever you do, do it with style" he mumbled.
I told him I would use that quote for my facebook and twitter...
That clearly annoyed Art..."I hate quotes..." he spoke


And then he rattled on mumbling different things that I scribbled down as soon as I came home:
- quotes are used to fake intellect
- people nowadays only read quotes, they forget to read the actual books that are required to understand what they are actually saying
- they add a famous name to a quote to avoid people challenging the sense of it
- most quotes are completely misused; quotes are like black and white copies of reality
- people think they inherit brilliance from the person they quote
- quotes are symbol of today's culture: aesthetic image is more important than the depth of the experience
- quotes are an easy way to fill emptiness; people searching followers and who have nothing to say fill that vacuum with quotes.
- quotes become cliches and lose their meaning when overused - as such you are hurting the legacy of the people you quote when using quotes without understanding the deeper context

I realise while writing these quotes that I am actually doing exactly what Art Burshy had been ridiculing: writing down his quotes on a blog...

Well, I guess I am not perfect, and I guess Art will one day forgive me.
Also, I wonder how consistent Art Burshy is on this topic; knowing he wrote this large quote on the wall, and calling it 'street Art'.

Saturday, 21 June 2014

All part of something bigger


Art jumped at me when he saw me today. "ridiculous..." he said, and then he started explaining what happened. And our coversation ended with Art confessing he is an extremist...

His kids had come back from an event with family and friends. Apparently they had been talking about religion...and they asked Art why he was not religious.
First he wanted to avoid the subject saying "well, art is my religion"...
Art admitted he had felt some sort of anger though...who are these people to trigger this with my kids and try to influence them...
But he decided to do an effort being wise...which is not easy in these situations.
"People say that wisdom comes with the years and grey hair, but there is no guarantee...and it certainly doesn't come natural... at least not for me..." is what Art confessed.

I asked Art how he had reacted in the end.

He shared he first checked all his initial ideas and they all seemed a bit over-reacting.
It is funny how - when you are emotionally hit - you can try as much as you can to stay relaxed, but somehow all you say comes out in a f**ked up way.

1. So he had first asked them what they felt so he could cool down a bit,
2. He had explained them that he was not sure what to do,
3. He told them that there are many religions and all religions start with a purpose of love, care and respect
4. He then explained the problem: all religions feel they have and own the only God(s),
5. And then they start interpreting and creating new rules interfering with freedom of others; that's when they get too fanatic about it.
So Art explained he is puzzled and just hopes they make the right choice, and that when they believe they stay true to the original thoughts and purposes of that religion.

Art did explain he does feel there are different levels of living; way to direct your life. And it is good for kids to think about these things.
He likes philosopher Kierkegaard's theory around the levels:
- aesthetic level - where you do the things you do to get something out of it, things that you find beautiful, things that reward you.
- ethical level - here you do adhere to behaviour that are in the interest of the group; you respect written and unwritten rules.
- spiritual level - where when choosing your actions you keep in mind you are part of something bigger, whatever that may be.

To me it was not directly clear so I asked Art if he could give an example.
He rolled his eyes and said "do you not understand or do you not WANT to understand...?"

Art: It's like nowadays around eating meat and fish.
Level 1 - You will just eat meat as it tastes good; you might not always realise where the meat comes from or you wish to avoid subconsciously as you have 'other priorities'.
On an ethical level you will respect the rules in the community. More people starting to eat biological food, eating less meat etc.
On a spiritual level you might feel like ensuring the animal has had an okay life, and it has not died in too worse of conditions. You might care about 5% of the shrimp fishing catch being shrimps, and the rest getting killed and thrown away.

So, what is your religion, being so passionate and almost fanatic? I asked.
"I am an art religion extremist" he said and walked away.

Saturday, 14 June 2014

Sure I'll contact you



This morning I was going out to get some nice cafe lattes and some good cheese cake to cement my stomach, when I ran into Art Burshy. He was sitting outside on a bench with his hat covering most of his eyes.
"Women..." - he said - "...they have the power and skill to break down a man's self esteem in a nanosecond".

I sat down next to Art and he started talking; initially I reminded myself I was here with the purpose of getting some coffees and should not stay away too long, but Art's story made me forget all.
Art had been in a cafe, when next to him a 'breathtaking nymph', 'an elegant beauty', 'an angel sent from heaven' - as he mentioned - sat down at the bar.
Art described her in all cliches; and then he apologised, but this is what happens when overwhelmed by an appearance - you start blurting these cliches that are at that moment the only thing escaping your surprised and shocked mind.

Art had initially been calmly drinking his malt beer - he was trying to lower the alcohol consumption as he has noticed recently that his body doesn't deal that well with it anymore. He made a little chat with the bartender and did not directly think of talking to the woman, because:
- women in general fall in love differently than men; men can see a beautiful woman and assume that all of her is beautiful and thus fall in sort of love or anticipation. Women generally do not have this, and don't wan to be bothered by men when there is no real reason, and it will take them time to really develop a feeling and often require shared experiences.
- Art knows that when he is touched by someone he generally is not able to make any sense come out of his mouth, so it is often best to be silent and a)wait till the first moment of awe is gone and b) just ask open questions to let the woman talk.
- Art is aware that at first sight he is not really the man that will attract women based on his Tom Cruise, Leonardo DiCaprio or Brad Pitt looks, so his approach should always be humble
- Art is also laughing at his own male instincts; where it is clear that the situation can never lead to something but hormones kick in makes all sense flow towards his genitals.

I mentioned to Art:
"It is funny to see that you are so open about your own internal dark side; openly speaking about how you are impacted by women, how you are aroused...."
Art looked at me frowning, opening his eyes wide of surprise; "ah, are you still denying having such thoughts?...you poor soul."

Art continued explaining that after some time - and after having some alcohol - he had grown his courage and approached the woman asking what type of business she was in. Turned out she was a successful business woman, just waiting for a business appointment to arrive. So Art thought to loosely let her know that - if she ever needed artists and business leadership - he would be happy to assist.
This was the point where she told him:
'Sure I'll contact you when I need to recruit small hairy artists imitating business leaders..."

Art had been devastated. If any person would have dismissed him this he would have shrugged and chosen someone else to talk to, or even make a witty remark to not end up being the obvious loser of this conversation...

But when someone you care about or want to impress disqualifies you it really hurts.
So Art decided to shut up and sit outside, having an extra strong alcoholic drink, trying to clean his memory of this painful experience.

I decided to leave him in that state and return home... still a bit puzzled and wondering how to interpret all this, and how this should influence my image of Art Burshy... are we men really all like that?