I have to admit to Michael Jackson contemplation. While I liked some of his music and certainly had my share of opinions of his eccentricities, I never really paid that much attention to him. And now he is dead and I’ve been watching MTV’s marathon of his videos and listening to I Wonder Who’s Loving You a lot.
My mother remarked that when my cousin and musician Jeff Hanson passed away recently that she felt a smidge guilty that it was only then that she really paid attention to the beauty of his lyrics.
And I realized that there is logic to the dead artist cliché. Now that the machine/work in progress has finally stopped we can finally take a deep breath listen to Thriller with fresh critical ears without having to think about his nose job. Now that the artist is dead, the work can finally truly finished and can transcend. I think to be genius the work has to transcend the artist, move beyond the cult of personality. Death helps us forgive and forget art’s flawed human origins. Its no surprise that while there has been some musing on Jackson’s foibles, there has been so much more focus on “Damn this dude invented the moon-walk and Billie Jean”.
Rich from fourfour (one of my favorite pop-culture blogs) put it more eloquently:
[Jackson’s songs are]…scotchguarded with perfection, utmost examples of art that demands to be separated from its artist.(emphasis mine) And one of the most heartening phenomena I’ve observed in the population’s relationship to art has been its ability to do just that. I’d never give the public that much credit if I hadn’t observed countless examples of the unmitigated joy that results en masse when anything from Thriller is played at a party, no matter the attendees, no matter the occasion and still to this day.
MJ your work in progress is over and your comeback is now.
Despite having not liked my uniforms in school, I’ve always wished I had one as an adult. I think it is incredibly powerful for someone to wear the same thing all the time. It really welds to their identity and makes them seem more centered and confident.
Many artists have done uniform projects, notably Andrea Zittel’s “A-Z Six Month Seasonal Uniforms”. I am really enjoying following Sheena Matheiken’s Uniform Project as well. Her uniform is actually pretty great. Not only is it cute and flattering, Matheiken really uses the dress as a canvas to her creative accessorizing.
so many ways! –Matheiken’s Uniform Project
I myself am currently undergoing a huge closet weeding. I would say I’ve given away, or consigned about 50-60% of my clothes since January and am still working on it. The ultimate goal is to have continuity and modularity in my wardrobe. In addition, I am trying to focus on quality over quantity. For example, one truly warm cashmere sweater that matches everything over 5 sort-of warm sweaters I bought on sale that I don’t even like that much because the colors are too difficult. Colors are so problematic that I don’t really feel like dealing with it anymore. I am trying to stick to whites, grays and blacks in my slacks, dresses and tops with maybe one or two punchy tops to break it up. My accessories are still fun. I pride myself on a great sock and brooch collection and a fondness for orange.
One of my most popular entries is my “Critique on the Handmade Movement” post. I posted that entry over a year ago and I still get comments on it. Naturally I read them. I read all of the internet’s blog comments.
A recent article on Slate.com by Sara Mosle brings up some other points that I had neglected in my original post. Bizarre feminist vitriol aside, (I find accusing women of being “bad feminists” to be sort of unproductive. Bad feminists exist but much like invoking Godwin’s law, it just weakens your stance overall to use it.) she made some excellent points. Namely that the pricing structure really ruins everything:
If anything, Etsy exerts a downward pressure on prices. At the local craft fair, an artist could charge a premium for homemade goods, because the buyer had few options. But Etsy puts the artist in Brooklyn in direct competition with the artist in Dubuque, or London. This forces each one to offer ever more attractive deals. Most artists can’t drastically increase volume (the usual answer to slim margins), because the items are supposed to be one-of-a-kind, not mass-produced, in keeping with the site’s whole ethos.
One of the secret reasons I love Etsy is that I know I am sometimes getting an absolute steal for a really lovely handmade item. Like seriously criminal. Its also one of the reasons I decided not to have a shop of my own. There was no way I could get away with charging what I thought my time and expertise was truly worth. Etsy’s pricing essentially competes with manufacturing pricing. That’s insane! Its basically telling artists that your 10 hours of work is worth maybe the 5 minutes it took to manufacture this t-shirt and sell it at the GAP.
Well the actual truth is that if you were smart, your handmade item would just be a sample or a prototype, and you’d get that shirt manufactured so you don’t have to make 20 billion owl t-shirts. As this NYTimes article mentions, there is such thing as handmade burnout. And suddenly when you realize that YOU are the machine, hey actual machines don’t sound so bad.
I am firm believer in time wasting as a creative booster. Making art takes time to muddle. Often our best ideas seem to spring forth when doing nothing in particular such as showering, waiting for the train, noodling on the internets when you should be writing for that new grant already. Once inspiration hits then there is never enough time of course. One could argue that it was because you wasted all that time before but I believe this is just the nature of things and I try to embrace it. I find it easier to make focused decisions on tight deadlines and mild exhaustion anyways. It’s a delicate balance.
In an effort to see where my wasted time goes I have compiled this likely incomplete list of empty activities I do to waste time (ie free up my brain):
1. Read blog comments. Oh man this is totally a ridiculous thing to do. It’s a terrible, terrible habit that no one should ever pick up.
2. I love infomercials and have been known to watch QVC for extended periods of time. To be honest I find the language they use interesting in that it is strangely compelling yet containing no actual information.
3. Window-shopping. I love the mall. I find its sanitized environment and repetition to be strangely soothing. I very rarely buy as I find everything to be kind of hideous and poorly made but I like seeing it all laid out.
4. Read catalogues. Any catalogue. I have a window treatments catalogue on my desk right now. I am not remotely interested in window treatments but I will flip though it before recycling it.
5. Doing other crafty projects. Sometimes working on other silly creative things helps fuel the Art (with a capital A)
6. Celebrity gossip. I think my interest is reasonable. I also believe in participating in the culture. And if America is burning with interest in Brad/Angelina/Jen (although to be honest that whole debacle is really getting tedious already. Find some other non-existent love triangle already paparazzi!) I feel it is as important to know as Obama’s new justice pick.
7. Terrible television. Watching Mad Men is a great way to spend your time. Watching marathons of the Its Me or The Dog is not.
