Previous: abstract art has a future
an artist in the world
Post #32 • June 5, 2003, 7:23 AM
As may be clear from postings such as “news” and “how to extract your child,” artblog.net is not always about art. I found The Sunburn to be too constraining and formal; I wanted to write shorter pieces about subjects both related to art and not, and related to South Florida and not. The tagline, “the chronicles of an artist in the world,” was meant to reflect that: the whole world, artistic, social, political, geographic, biological, religious, literary, cultural, ethical, and more besides.
When you use the Browse pull-down menu on the right, you see categories. “Art” links to most postings, but not the ones like “news” and “how to extract your child.” (Those are linked to “life.”) If you’d like the latter type to disappear, select “art.”
Artblog.net exists in a tiny overlap between the realm of bloggers and the realm of art people. (The overlap between bloggers and, say, computer enthusiasts, is much larger.) I’m finding that a few art people don’t get this project because they are not familiar with blogging in general and the blogging community (which is called the Blogosphere or, my preference, Blogistan). You can go the the main page of a blogging engine called Moveable Type for a sampling of recently updated MT blogs and poke around to get an idea. (I use a different program called Textpattern, which was written by a graphic designer and is scintillating in its elegance and ease of use.) Bloggers, for the most part, write online diaries. Many of them are utterly trivial. Another type of blogger writes commentary, usually film criticism or political analysis. Many of them are stunning in their philistinism and extremism. But a significant number of the diarists are interesting and some of the commentators – Matt Drudge, Instapundit, et al., have become hugely influential. I’ve seen writings from Drudge get picked up by CNN. Mine’s a mix of commentary and diary, although I have much less interest in talking about myself than a lot of other bloggers. This medium has a future. I’m not sure what it is, but it has one.
I have artist friends who are only interested in making art, and I envy their clarity.I also write and code, and while at times I wish my life was simpler, I also believe Brenda Ueland’s idea that if you possess a creative talent and don’t use it, you sin against the Holy Spirit. (Even if you’re not a subscriber.) So my job is to follow these inner demands. I hope it occasionally resonates with you.