It's An Art (Quiz)

It's An Art (Quiz)

If you're like me and Sixpence... which you probably are... you miss going to museums and experiencing art first hand. So, this week... it's an art (quiz), to set your mind in motion, getting your true self in touch with your creative spark.  Most of the questions come from Conversation Starters World, with a little help from yours truly. 

This quiz was inspired, in part by a comment Sixpence made, and by Sunday Diva, Lady Gaga's artPOP phase. Oddly enough, this phase was deemed something of a commercial and artistic failure by the media and critics, but it remains my very favorite phase of this songstress' storied career. Not only can the lady sing and entertain, but she's an avid explorer with the heart of a lioness, as demonstrated by the mini-movies that accompanied this release and the ambitious reach of this particular project. 

And I apologize in advance. I am an opinionated person. I am critical. For me, critique is a form of art. So, frequently, people find my rantings a bit off-putting and deem them negative. Not at all. I just want the conversation to get started. I want to hear what YOU think. Because that helps me to have an informed opinion.

Trust me. A pompous asshole only exists so long as he remains unchallenged. So? Challenge. Call him (me) out on his bullshit. Take the wind out of his sail. (I mean, come on! I'm referring to myself in the third person - it doesn't get more ridiculous than that!)

Art doesn't happen in a vacuum. It's give and take. It is a multi-level conversation - one in which everybody's voice should be heard and valued. 

So, set your critical natures to stun, and have some fun as you share your thoughts on the creative arts.

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1/ What kind of art do you appreciate the most?

I love a traditional art museum filled with paintings. I don't really care what kind, though I do like things grouped in a complimentary time and style. One of my favorite museums is in downtown Chicago; a relatively small gallery featuring american oil paintings; some of the most beautiful I have ever seen. It feels very intimate.

I simply adore losing myself in a painting. There is so much to dissect. What was the artist's intention? What does it say about our world and the artist's perspective? What type of technique is utilized? The paint strokes. The choice of color.  The use or absence of light.  On and on. I'm one of those people who are well-intentioned - when I start at the beginning of a given museum, I read everything... but, as I near the end, I suffer from information and stimulus overload and simply waft through, taking in first impressions and only occasionally truly digesting something. It's rather exhausting, and I am the first to admit that museum burnout is possible after only a single visit. 

But so worth it. And my favorite way to waste a day. 

The other visitors get on my nerves, so I frequently try to find a bubble - an area of the museum where people are less likely or, in the flow of visitors, where there are less. And I think children rather ruin the experience. I know parents are well-meaning, but a screaming child who doesn't understand that they should not touch the art? 

Well, way to rain on my parade, kid. 

2/ What kind of art do you have no time for?

There are certain musical styles I have no patience for. I like music to flow and illuminate or excite and energize, or to be meditative. I do not enjoy being pummeled with noise and inarticulate rage. I do not enjoy misogyny. I don't enjoy music that sounds like industrial warfare. I don't appreciate crudeness that is not clever or anger that is not focused. And shoe-gazers and mumblers bore the fuck out of me.

I don't typically enjoy performance art that is gross in nature. I do like it when it is contemplative. 

Most television leaves me cold. News is fine. Hard to muck up, though many manage to do just that. Scripted television? Most of the writing is terrible. Written with crayons. I spend much of a given episode shaking my head in disbelief that this ever made it past a first table read. I thought that during this Covid thing I would end up powering through all the series I had bookmarked on Netflix. But, nope. Damn television never comes on these days.

I'd rather play piano, write, or read a book. I will always make time for a book. 

3/ What works of art/artists have really made an impression on you?

Music: Erik Satie. Janis Ian, Rachmaninoff, David Bowie. Prince, Leonard Cohen. Bruce Roberts. Marvin Gaye, Randy Newman. Carole Bayer Sager, Marianne Faithfull; Phillip Glass, Stephen Sondheim, Burt Bacharach... really, too many to name

Books: Anne Tyler. Sue Miller. Faye Weldon. Again... too many to mention. And it takes me forever to read one.

Movies: John Waters, Pedro Almodóvar, William Wyler, Spike Lee, Alan Rudolph, Greta Gerwig, Todd Solondz, Billy Wilder

Painting: Van Gogh, George Seurat, Mary Cassatt, Keith Haring, Kara Walker, Robert Mapplethorpe, Tom of Finland, Roy Lichtenstein, Frida Kahlo, Andy Warhol

Theater: Edward Albee, T.S. Eliot (Murder in the Cathedral), Shakespeare, Christopher Durang, Eugene O'Neill, Tennessee Williams

Dance: Bob Fosse, Twyla Tharp, Fred Astaire

4/ What’s the best concert you’ve been to and why was  it so good?

Kathy Griffin

Laugh Your Head Off World Tour
Thursday, October 25, 2018
State Theatre

This was epic. Historic. And... utterly amazing. 

I am so glad I did not miss this. It was a such a whirlwind of an evening. Heartbreaking. And scary. And very, very funny. 

Taking the stage dressed like a satanic Orphan Annie, Kathy ruled that sold out crowd for 3.5 hours. The time flew. I am the first to look at my watch. I am the first to get up and go to the bathroom. I am the first to get antsy. 

Nope. Not this time. 

This was storytelling done in such a manner that you simply lose yourself and find yourself laughing through the pain. 

She took us through everything she had experienced since the day that photo of her holding the orange ogre's dumb, stupid, fake head turned her life upside down.

It was harrowing and ridiculous and Kathy somehow managed to get through the ordeal with humor. She was betrayed by people in the industry she'd always trusted and how she ever came back from it? I gotta tell you... there's no one stronger.  

But what she went through? It was sadistic. It was brutal. It was fucking wrong.

And that's why... we must vote that horrible man out of The White House, people. Because what she experienced sounded like something straight out of the Soviet Union. And that man, and his whole grifter family? They have to go. Or more and more of us will find ourselves at his mercy, the way Kathy did. 

And I know... she's not everybody's cup of tea. But for me... this is was like seeing Lenny Bruce during his troubles with the FBI, CIA, etc. Freedom of speech, man. That fight... it never ends.

It's on the line, folks. So get out there and vote, dammit.

5/ What are type of art are you kind of snobby about?

Theater.

I am so full of myself. Like one of those parodies played for laughs... the pompous theater critic. The burning intellectual director. The self-involved actor.

Yeah. I know. 

I am very opinionated, because I have a wealth of information and experience to draw from. 

I can coach a performer like no one else. And I'm harsh. Demanding. I have an eye and a great ear. I know what works and what reads false. 

But infallible? Naw. I wish.

Looking back... to when I was involved? I frequently couldn't see beyond the forest. The trees, sure. And I knew the forest like the back of my hand. I'd grown up there. (And that? Was not always fun or age-appropriate.) And that is all well and good, but...

Effective art doesn't happen in a vacuum. When it does? It's little more than masturbation.

See... ultimately, theater, no matter the style, is a representation of life.  And in order to tell that story, one must live a life... it must be born of something real. That's why so many lose their way. It's why so many who are successful at theater are so bad at life, which, in turn, makes them bad at theater. Because you can't represent something you've never experienced. And you can't truly live a life if you're in a little black box playing pretend all day. 

It's a real conundrum. 

One I couldn't solve while I was in the middle of it. But, now? From this vantage point? Oh, man... I ended up getting really good at life. So much so... I don't think I can every go back to the insanity that is theater. 

On this side of mirror? I have dissected every misstep I ever made. I have examined every choice. And I know why I failed. Because, while I thought I knew human nature? I knew nothing of human nature. I was stupid, and arrogant, and a door mat, and utterly blind.

I had no idea how the world worked. Zip. But I was arrogant enough to believe that I could recreate it and tell a story on a stage. Yes, it's an art form... but that art has to be informed by and formed from life.

What passes for theater these day? It's flash. It's marketing. It's product. It's packaging. It's celebrity. It's nostalgia. It's posing and gestures and stances and sounds. 

It's a commodity. 

And it's so utterly empty. Bloodless. Hollow. A fucking sham.

Theater is so out of touch with life that it doesn't even know it's been dead for at least a quarter of a century. 

Yep. I'm a theater snob. 

A total asshole.

6/ What’s the most creative thing you’ve done?

The Happy Hour

A musical. I wrote the book and the score. I did all the arrangements. 

The first time I did it, I hired a director, a lighting designer, a costumer, a choreographer, and I stayed on as musical director, because I couldn't find anyone... though I did interview people. It opened in downtown Minneapolis, at Hennipen Center for the Arts and ran for two weeks. 

I started to detail all that happened during the course of that first run, but it turned out to be an epic sort of tale that went on and on. I will spare you the details (which may bore the crap out of you). 

I did the publicity and all the PR materials. I helped with the set (which ended up to be the only thing I thought was really good - stunning, actually - thanks to my ex). I hired musicians. I raised and managed the money. I stayed in my corner. I did not hover during rehearsals. I let the creative people do their thing.

It was expensive and a learning experience...

...and a terrible failure. 

Oh, it sold out. My ex was in charge of box office. Dude could sell garbage to garbage men.

But we spent money like it was falling from the sky. A lot of entertaining. A lot of taking care of the cast. It was exciting. But, ultimately... opening night found me lying on the floor outside the mens room curled in a little ball wondering what the hell I'd been thinking.

And you would think that would have been the end of it. But, nope.

A few years later, I would rewrite it, and mount it for the Kansas City Fringe Festival and the Minneapolis Fringe Festival, to be followed by a four week run in downtown St. Paul. I pulled the plug before we got to St. Paul. But it was super fun, in a way.

Expensive, again. And I directed, choreographed, played a major supporting role, did the set and costumes. It was a much tighter production and I liked it a lot more... but it was still crap. Clever and neatly done, but... crap.

I couldn't get anyone to tell me what worked and what didn't. So, after we finished the Fringe Festival in Minneapolis, I pulled the plug. I was tired and didn't want to throw more money down the drain, especially since no one had any opinion about the show. 

I mean, at least with the first version - people either loved or hated it (I hated it). The second version? The reaction was polite. Like a positive shrug. 

I didn't know how to deal with tepid.

And, while I regret a lot of choices made during both productions, I don't regret doing it. 

Good for me. 

Failure? Not all bad. Everyone should try it.

7/ What is the most stressful TV show or movie you watched?

Requiem for a Dream - the most harrowing movie ever committed to film. It will leave your brain scarred for life. Brilliant, as it is mind-bending. 

I don't think I can ever watch it again.

8/ What TV show are you hooked on or recently binged on?

 

When this whole Covid thing began... I finished up the first season of Dead To Me (good, bad writing) and Rene Zellweger's series What If  (good, lots of borrowed ideas) and Working Moms (funny, original, but ended oddly). In the recent past I'd watched Insatiable (a fun piece of garbage, bad writing). The boyfriend and I watch $chitts Creek as soon as it's available on Netflix. It is amazingly fun. We have also watched all of Sabrina (lots of style, inconsistent writing). We also start things and never finish them - like RuPaul's sitcom (very bad) and Haunting of Hill House (very good). 

But actual binge watching? Not for me. Too sedentary. Too much junk food. Not my scene. 

And since the end of March? My TV has not been on. Not once. 

That will probably change soon. 

The weather just got colder in Minnesota.

9/ Where is the line between art and not art?

There is none.

If there is intention... there is art. 

10/ What benefits does art provide society? 

I think it's a reflection. I mean, our society produces these minds which then produce art. It's a reflection of how they experience the world, how an individual sees it.

I value the thoughts of others. I want to hear what they have to say. What are they seeing? What are they feeling? It helps me get in touch with my own thoughts and feelings. 

That's therapy.

That's beneficial. 

It creates a healthy society. We expose what is working, what is beautiful, what is celebratory. And we expose what is not working. What threatens and oppresses. We examine our present, our future and our past through art. 

Art makes us self-aware. And self-aware people are people evolving and to evolve means to grow and to think. 

Thinking people? That's the sign of a healthy society.

I want to live in a healthy society.

11/ Does art hurt society in any way?

Nope. As Kathy Griffin says... "Suck it, Jesus".

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So, as I've said... for me, art is a dialogue, not a monologue. So, hold up your end of the conversation! Share your thoughts and answers in the comments section, or post them on your blog and leave a link. And, as always... thanks for reading.

artPOP - Lady Gaga

For Anne Marie

Art for Art's Sake - 10cc