The collage has been on my closet door for a week now.....I keep looking at it and noticing the contrast in colors between the top and the bottom (the more blue is actually on top). The bottom is so fleshy...fleshy with stilletos. All week I've been looking at it and thinking, "what will I post, what will I post....". It seems redundant to say the obvious; that I(we) am bombarded with images of how I 'should' look, behave, act, live etc. etc. It is so obvious, so infused in our culture, it is like saying "the leaves on that tree are green". And still, I am under it's influence on a day to day basis. The fashion models get thinner and younger and I get older and thicker around the middle.
So, on that note, it is pretty depressing.... there MUST be another note to follow.
Ah, found one! Last nite I was visiting with my friend G. (not her real initial). We were talking about art, phsycology, drinking and smoking. G was having some white wine that I had brought and I was drinking non-alcoholic beer. G was also smoking a cig and I was very jealous of both her alcohol consumption and her nicotine consumption. I am on a 41 day abstinence from all my favorite things; meat, alcohol and cigarettes (actually don't eat meat but i love fish). We were talking about the cliche of the 'tortured' artist and how they are always drinking and smoking (humbling to realize that you are a cliche) and that there is this myth that to get in touch with with that deeper darker place you have to be self destructive to do so. G. had a genius insite as she smoked her parliment and drank her chardonnay; it's just more glamorous and sexy. It's more glamorous and sexy but it doesn't really get you there. It doesn't really get you into the juicy, gritty, soul stuff that I am supposed to be getting into as an artist. IN FACT, said G., it just serves as a big distraction. I thought this to be a very true and insightful observation.
So, getting back to the collage...all the flesh, cleavage and stilletos are very glamorous and sexy. They are what glamorous and sexy are all about. And even though I appreciate glamorous and sexy and find it very fun on occasion, it isn't what it is all about. It isn't what I'm about and it isn't what real women are about and it isn't what life is all about. It is fantasy. Fun, but fantasy.
So, the bigger question... why do we feel so compelled to distract ourselves SO much and so completely for most of our lives??? What are we running/hiding from? Why is it so scary? Who can show us the way out? Perhaps my readers would like to comment on this question?
You raise some really good questions. I think part of it is that marketing has done a very good job of brainwashing society to believe that "fleshy with stilletos" is what we should value and base our self-worth on so we buy that shoe, that make-up, that car, etc. As a societal bonus, this also distracts us from noticing the not-always-so-nice reality: the war, environment issues, chronic disease, etc. Really BIG stuff. I think it also relates to personal power. The BIG stuff feels more-or-less out of our control, so we let ourselves get distracted by maketing propoganda simply because it's easier.
ReplyDeletemaybethe "fun" part is part distraction, and also part shadow, but shadow dressed up and (safe). depending on the form- i think glamor is also a caricature of are darker nature- sex/violence/greed... its interesting how your ponderings and time with friend deepened your questions beyond the norm of asking "what they out there" expect of us, and instead, why are we drawn/compelled. this is juicy stuff!
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