Random thought fragments I thought I'd share

Ovid's Americana
digital collage 2008

On history:

One of the worst evils ever perpetrated against the world was colonialism. That and slavery would have to be the two biggest crimes of Western civilization. I wish I could proudly call myself an American, but this country was a product of both so that is something hard for me to do.

On the other hand, history is not my fault.

On work:

God did not intend for human beings to work pointless, unfulfilling, tedious jobs for the majority of their lives. Yes, we need to work in order to live, and in order to create things that are worthwhile, but our post industrialized culture is such that only robotic humanoids are adapted to survive, while people who have genuine callings fall to the wayside.
I would gladly work ten to twelve hours everyday on something that I genuinely love and care about for little or no money as opposed to some mindless and robotic job in retail for a large corporation that neither pays me for what my toil is worth, nor for what they can actually afford to pay me.

On religion:

There is no pomposity greater than telling another human being where they will go after they die.

Artists:

Depart from ordinary church.

Looking at a painting should be like walking into a Cathedral.

A painting should always make us feel as if we are standing on the threshold of something big.

An artist who cannot change the way people see cannot change the world.

Approach each painting as a conversation, not just as a statement.

Evaluate what is good and what is of value to the culture in which you live. How does it hold up and how does it fall apart under scrutiny?

Reconcile paradoxes as best you can.

Parallel universes exist in the eyes of the artist. Much of it is playing 'what if?'

IT IS NEVER TOO LATE! Stop lamenting the fact that you were not a child prodigy or that you did not make a name for yourself ten years ago! DO IT NOW!

Art as an experience remains mostly visual; even though we may view them, we are still very rarely allowed to touch sculptures or installations. The tactile experience is reserved exclusively for its maker, not for the observer.
How is this any less self indulgent on the part of the artist than action painting or other forms of painterly abstraction?