False Epiphanies and True Treasure

The Anomalous Duo present their work 

@ the Center Camp Cafe 

Burning Man 2019 - 25 Aug to 2 Sept - Metamorphoses

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the short story: "False Epiphanies and True Treasure" by T. Remington 

the digital collage: "ARTRANSFOMUS" by AleXander Hirka 

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"False Epiphanies and True Treasure"

   

     That sweep of color and image is only your imagination. Or rather it’s all your imagination and you need to pay closer attention to it. We all do – even those of us who are paying attention. We need to pay closer attention.

     As we move blindly through our daily habits, those things we have done across countless yesterdays so many times that we don’t even think about them anymore, stuff is coming in. There’s a constant stream of input.

     As it pours in past the usual barriers, our expert filing system crams it away into a hundred million file cabinets. There, behind our eyes and between our ears, is our treasure and it’s tragically easy to let it sit there dormant through our entire lives. It starts with the first time a firm grownup hand guides us back to coloring inside of the lines. It gains traction when the first firm grownup voice assures us that we’ll never be able to support ourselves this way.

    Grow up.

    Learn a trade or build a skill set.

    Become marketable.

    Build your brand.

    Be realistic.

     The culture is riddled with these landmines — designated roles that are designed to go off with the appearance of being epiphanies.

     And we run with it; pointing ourselves in the accepted directions. Meanwhile the stuff is flowing in. It never stops. 

     There are seasons and situations where we can suddenly, blessedly, become aware of the river we swim in and here we are in the mother lode of seasons and situations. Pay attention.

     You might think this is all dust and heat and cold and assorted assholery going on all around us (Ok, it is that) but it’s also treasure. Pay attention.

     We are of a lineage and it is glorious. From those first hallucinatory bulls and beasts scrawled onto cave walls and through cascades of inspirations, false starts, restarts, hunches, setbacks, breakthroughs, failures, joyrides, sure things, infections, structures, forest fires, blank walls, broken paintbrushes, sneaking suspicions, trapdoors, bell towers, and jumping off cliffs we are following in the footsteps of generations who paid attention.

     You were lied to when you were told you’re not creative.

     Galleries and museums are zoos filled with sanctioned “Art”. No. The real juice is flowing in the streets and across the dusty playa. It’s all around us. We are the sum total of all that unexplainable stuff that has been flowing serenely past judgements and barriers since we reared up on our hind legs and started using our hands for more than pushing food into our faces.

     Looking into that mad, marvelous and timeless sweep of color and image that spans centuries we can know without any doubt that we are the Art. We always have been. The whole of society can deny it and do all in its power to lock us down, shut us up, get us in line and we remain the Art. 

     There’s a lot of talk and blather about how this or that has transformed our lives. Here’s the truth of it: 

     Our lives are transformed with every breath. 

     We can recognize that and open ourselves to the roaring majesty of our innate creativity, taking it with us everywhere or we can just have a lovely splash of it here and now and then slide back into our comfortable, “normal” skins after that first incredible shower in Reno. 

     Either choice is valid. This isn’t a test. There are no wrong answers.

    Even more importantly: this isn’t a site-specific phenomenon. It’s in Reno; hell, it’s in the two Walmarts in Reno. It’s in your kitchen. It’s in your cubicle in that shit job that keeps the rent paid. It’s always with you because it’s always in you.

    You don’t have to pay for it. You don’t need to track down a dealer. You don’t need to score a ticket to Burning Man (but it’s awesome that you did this year anyway). It’s equal parts Awe, Fire, Drive, and Dance. And it’s free.

    You are the Art. You create. You don’t need permission or training or special talents. You choose what to create. You own it. You send it into the world to join all the other stuff flowing past all the other barriers.

And for now here’s all the inspiration of the universe at your fingertips and smoothing along your synapses. Fire away!

"ARTRANSFORMUS"
by AleXander Hirka

click on images to enlarge

the artists . . .