Gratefulness

Woke this morn to Robert Genn's Twice-Weekly Letter, The Painter's Keys, and he is talking about art and gratefulness. Here's a bit of what he says: 

...taking our materials into our hands, we begin to move along a higher path. Rising to serve, we raise both our quality and our self-worth. To feel the clay between the fingers, the brush in the hand or the sound of music plucked, blown or struck, is to move toward the grace of gratefulness. Life is a privilege, and those of us who choose the path of creativity, may just be the most privileged of all.

We all have our unique motivations.

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And really, when it comes right down to it, we sleep to wake and we greet the day, each in our own special way. As artists, we lead by example and by the work we create. Can there be any better way to live one's life? 

You can read his entire letter here: 

http://painterskeys.com/

ARTIST P.GREENE: War what is war

ARTIST P.GREENE: War what is war: "War
What is war,
It is the worlds aggressive
reaction, the embodiment of man, yes the embodiment
of man, yes the embodiment of man's agg..."

Inspiration

Comeau inspires me to discuss how my art came about

Some inspiration comes from creative flow, a muse, if you will, while some comes from perspiration, as in sitting or standing at the easel and bloody well doing it.

When I was a writer, every computer screen with nothing on it was as it used to be when writers sat in front of blank sheets of paper and their hearts would shrivel as they berated and at times, begged themselves to produce.

What this keyboard with an axe embedded it it says is that I am happy to not be a writer. It's a "take that" piece. 

And this is exactly what I do. I take the lowly keyboard, tool of my former trade as a columnist with a Canwest daily, and I deface, defeat and humiliate one or more, pretty well on a daily basis.

They are called Quirky B's for the QWERTY designation of our North American and most European boards. B for board, of course.

Using a popular object, the iconic keyboard millions of people use daily, and reinventing it using wit, whimsy and a fair dose of clever,  the result is something that appeals to people who may respond with humour, quizzical thought or with a simple ooooo.

My art is Pop Art and is defined by the works of Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Claes Oldenberg and others.

We live in a world where art is served up in many guises and Pop Art is but one of them.

A question most people
ask what is Art, well here
is what has been playing
in my head over & over
again, who really decides!
Well if you know the answer, then tell us Artists what you think is truely Art?
Us Artists would really like to know, for we of noble spirited Artists feel need to create...
Moreover we need to eat, Im not trying to pull the starving artists card, it is just the facks.
We all need to eat.....

Further Comment on the Censorship Issue

I asked Bruce Stewart to take a look at my postings about censorship of his art and asked for his comments. Here's his response:

I feel that in this situation everyone involved did their work well.

I made a piece that provoked, challenged and was truly hot button. This on the heels or Norway and Australia.

A certain individual was concerned enough to call the police. They checked me out and determined that I was not a threat - nor was my object of art. There were no threats, bullying or censorship issues on their part, none at all. Frankly, I can sleep better knowing that someone actually cares enough to watch all our backs.

The only reason it was not in the show was because I pulled it.

Why: because if anyone at that opening had called the police concerning the thing - a Tac. Unit and the Bomb Squad would have turned up. These are not gentle people.

The Gallery and the block it is situated on would have been evacuated, and very possibly a water cannon would have been brought into play to disarm the device. IN the gallery.

So considering that,  I would of course pull the thing.  I am not going to jeopardize The Gallery, The Art in it or the people attending the opening, for the sake of one bit of my work.

That is the end of the story.