Very Nice, Very Nice

One of the most annoying and frustrating things is to watch the cursor blink and blink in MS Word. As if it's mocking you .. Come, Come Fucker, write something, and let’s see if you got what it takes to fill blank pages with verse. Besides I’m sure writing and procrastinating go hand in hand, unless given a deadline writing certainly is one of the most frustrating and relaxing jobs in the world. I’m sure everyone one of us must have confronted with the question; “What to write”. Why is it always so difficult to pen down our own thoughts on anything. Like I always think I have so much to write, but each day I do my best to avoid writing. Though at least writing as an art form does achieves what it sets out to achieve and stands above cinema in it’s testament for freedom of expression. Even if you are never published in your lifetime, you do have chances of being read or even achieving immortality – Kafka. On the other hand, As Andrei Tarkovsky once said, "Cinema can never be a true art form till it’s confined by the constraints of money."

Each day the number of question in my head regarding art keeps increasing. What is art? The other day I was reading through Roger Ebert commentary on Video Game as an art form and the debate it caused. And though the discussion was interesting but it dint resolve my question. Similarly I read lot of other pieces on what is art? But nothing concrete came my way. This question regarding keeps troubling me, as I travel each day by local transport or spend time lingering around on the road. What does Art mean to them? Does the person sitting beside me on bus care about art. And what about those people who do care, how much they understand art form?

Why is that an urinal piece called The Fountain by Marcel Duchamp a breakthrough in modern art form, and the potter and sculpture beside my house selling their work just another potter or sculpture. Who is the craftsman, and who is the artist? What constitutes art? Is a work made with labor, love, thought an art? Or emotions? But we get emotional about everything, so it that art? Perhaps certain question will always elude us. Though this question each day makes me understand and reason the purpose of our own existence. And questions are more a less a training ground to shaping your conflicts in your work. The conflict of man vs man, man vs society, man vs god.

I’m definitely not one of those brilliant geniuses who understand and comprehend an art as he/she watches, listens, reads and form an opinion. Usually I have tons of questions regarding everything. Though not stupid question about hidden symbols in everything. Yeah, though in recent years some things have moved me in a profound ways and made me think. One of those moments has been watching The Bell maker in Andrei Rublev break down as the bell he cast rings loud and clear. Even though he dint know the secret behind casting a bell, his faith and conviction lead to his achievement and recently when I listened to John Cage 4’33’’. Once the piece was over, I didn’t know how to react, it was just breathtaking. Silence is what this piece made me see and not hear.

As I explore more into cinema, painting, music and obviously each day is an inspiration in itself, the question about art and whether it matters and affect our live will keep haunting me as I move from avenue to avenue in my bohemian life.