Originally Published in Honu Guide – Organic Art
Gyphon stood wide eyed and sweaty from his performance, his two band mates played the motley collection of instruments strewn across the arts center floor, he shared a new truth with me “the opposite of war is not peace, its culture.”
Dark sits in the center of flourishing green edible plants of all kinds, his eyes are fixed on the fragile egg in his hands. He puts the finishing touches on a masterpiece of color, shape and form, all on the shell of this common egg.
In 1998 I began my Acting degree at Syracuse University, the bedrock of our technique was ‘An Actor Prepares’ by Stanislavsky. In the first pages there is the call to see the infinite beauty of nature.
Local organic, every place i buy my food, local organic. Its better for my body, its better for the local economy, the soil, everything. How about local organic ART? Local orGanic music, PoeTry, fiLM…hang with me…..Local organic ARt… Listen, turn on the TV, go to a Hollywood movie, open most magazines and there you will see it….Its the art that just does anything it can to keep your attention. Its like pretty packaged processed food, full of white sugar, its exciting at first but soon leaves you feeling tired, overwhelmed, and numb. BUT waIT! Just like their is organic food in farmers markets and health food stores, their is organic art in local arts centers and poetry slams. All around us are talented artists whose work can help us feel full, and open. Artists in our community who can lift our ideals, and give us a sense of unity. You remember that pLay, the concert, the girl with the uke, that perfect moment of huLa, the honest eyes of the poet….yes aloha to organic art.
Time for a song, time to plant a garden, ready for a new dance, try recycling, yes. Taking a risk is the first step toward anything worth doing. An organic art piece begins in the one. The one in his/her search for meaning, the one bringing light to a theme. Organic art is not simply for the sake of the ego of the artists, for the money it brings them or for the anything that is purely superficial. You dig? How deep? To work with the earth is to know the value of the soil. To know the soil is to know the importance of insects and fungus, and feces and all kinds of little nasty things that make beautiful blossoms possible. The search for great art is often this process of getting messy, of taking a risk, of exposing pain, exposing point of view, exposing your soul. THis is the origin of any organic art project. When it is presented you will not necessarily like it, but you will know that a person attempted to reveal their soul, to sort out a truth, to expose a reality. Revelation. What more can we ask than the true expression of discovery? If one poet mounts this escapade, if one dancer yields a twisting turning vision, if one mouth harmonizes, belts and spits such consonants and vowels that we engage in a presence beyond the pale facade, then it was worth it.. Our time was best spent thus. Communication happened, life flowed from one being and into another, and this was unity, this was a mutual seeding of ideas and life, this was organic art happening.
So please buy local, organic. Encourage the flight of the soul, and the deepening of the roots of your local artist. Turn off the TV. For within it is the white sugar, mainland, mainstream art. The place were one is absorbed into a flight of images so fast that you know, none of them were meant to sink in. All that sinks is the viewer, sinking, reaching, grasping the sweet taste of potential, over and over. Where were meant to feel more than titillation, and gloss. Whole real expression brings emotion, imagination and relevant ideas to our lives. It helps us to stop, pause and think, listen to the great twilight of the day, break light into a thousand pieces of our boundless elegance. Inspiration is everywhere, grow it.