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WORDS BY ME…
Laid out like this without some reason or context -- words are hard for me to come by. In fact, I’m often quoting others ~ Elias Cannetti, Wendell Berry, Suzuki Roshi ~ some Sufi … For a while there was a voice called Lout Sue… who wrote to Miku saying “No action will do.” Miku replied, “No action is enough.” Lout Sue said, “How do you know you’re not already dead?” He also said he would be the best… failure. He said revenge was a powerful energy train … comment… like -- “Current Evince.” “More than meets the I.” “
And there’s the general musings and philosophical rants -- Zen sights -- and radio fed… scientific wonders, stunning statistics of disasters -- generous heart-felt responses to a nation or a city. Some deaths denied -- and others doted on. Much of my thoughts on these matters as I work often find voice and image often to my dismay. Voices questioning art -- my worth… It’s quiet and …. And so this is what I’ve been doing since I was a little kid -- drawing, painting, reading, listening to the radio -- either listener sponsored KPFA or NPR or music or nothing -- or I play my guitar… Wiley says: For the first time I considered, “maybe I’m not going to be an artist” … Then I thought, “Well, if I’m not supposed to be an artist, what am I supposed to be?” And for the first time in my life I really kind of surrendered to the idea that I would be an artist, and to my surprise and relief and amazement, after about a month’s time or so – in that state of mind – the urge to work came back… What reoccurred to me in that fallow, “I give up” period was that when I first got into art I just wanted to do it because I loved it. I wasn’t trying to prove anything by it or convince anybody about anything… And when I went back into that state of mind with it, ideas and thoughts came… suddenly anything was game for art material. Wiley says: Art is the one place you can do exactly as you please and nobody can tell you differently. Wiley says: And one of art’s great values is that it has no value… It’s one of the few things on the planet that doesn’t have to be thought of in a utilitarian way; therefore, it can be free of all the rules that generally govern exploring something. Wiley says: Many people feel that unless art is accessed early on and you keep it accessed, it atrophies, and you use it or lose it… And so many of the problems we face here, today, as human beings – in regard to our relationship with the planet – are a crisis of imagination. There are other things we could do, and could’ve done, and we chose generally more poisonous, toxic things to do instead, and that’s strange in some ways. PicturePlayer 3.25.00|Photo Organizer Deluxe 2.9 Wiley says: Art can lead you to a wonderful understanding of what you’re here for and what you might do while you’re here in a way that nothing else can, because it’s full of questions; full of answers; and you have to, in the end, find your own relationship to it… It’s just a tool and a treasure that each one of us has, but most people don’t access it, and I don’t think that until you have that functioning in your life, you can really know what it’s like to be here. “Getting the Record Crooked” (Wiley’s musical instruments) AS TO PURPOSEPERHAPS THE MIRACLE, THE MYSTERY, OF OPINION, ACTION, IS ONLY ENTROPY SINGING TO ITSELF, AND THESE INSTRUMENTS ARE FOR THAT SONG. Is all opinion cut on the bias? How is such an angle determined? Is there a choice? Variety? Is it reveled in? Resisted? Ranted and raved about… What’s it border on? Who the native? Who the alien? Remember, nothing can remain hidden for a very long time. Good luck, etc. P.S.: Don’t be afraid of being right or wrong about art… the art won’t mind… Be afraid of not feeling very much.
Sincerely,
William T. Wiley
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