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"The demand to give up the illusions about its condition is the demand to give up a condition which needs illusions.
Criticism has plucked the imaginary flowers from the chain not so that man will wear the chain without any fantasy or consolation, but so that he will shake off the chain and cull the living flower."
-Marx
welcome
Don't you see the flowers
you've culled are no longer living—
you've plucked them.
Wear these,
your chains of illusory happiness.
See how they console you.
A study into the origins, value, & power of creativity
Art is the study of beauty,
and art history is the history of our ability to translate and communicate "beauty".
For many artists, the pursuit of inspiration crosses paths with the their connection to spirituality.
Jung described beauty as a force that inspires connectedness to others, maturity within ourselves, and is a bridge within our psyche to the divine.
Fromm taught that beauty connects us to nature and to ourselves, and has a unique capacity to peel us, the viewer, back from the drabness of conformity, and back from the parts of our minds that seek comfort and fulfillment through fantasy and religion; that beauty is a bridge within our psyche toward a total and fulfilling love of life, overcoming the psychological need for deity.
Titration of the Pharmakon:
Errors and miscalculations into the unknown.
the poisoned magician
What is autonomy when you see your own puppet strings?
...Should you cut them?
Struck by arrow. Some strength left. What was that training for? Our warrior knows the answer, and still enters the dragon’s cave.
facing the dragon
the natural robot
"I dare do all that may become a man;
Who dares do more, is none"
-Macbeth
axis mundi
Quadrato Animo
upcoming series
Neo-classical Fine-Art Paintings and Photography
as a result of my studies and my training
upcoming series
upcoming series
upcoming series
What makes a good doctor? Maybe one that does their job really well? No, that's just a good employee. What makes a good doctor is if they are a good student of medicine.
To understand what makes a good artist, you have to understand what they are students and practitioners of. My position is that art is the study of beauty. Fromm's definition of beauty is pragmatic and succinct: Beauty is the thing that makes you feel a love of life. If art is the study of beauty, then artists study beauty and their practice is in creating and sharing beauty - or, translated into Fromm's logic: artists study and practice a passion and love of life.
So what makes a good artist? One who is a good student of beauty.
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