Is the most perfect art your own life?

Interesting question.

I was at the gym, and was noticing all these tattoos. Some nice, some not so great. Some really good art, actually.

But then I started thinking. Instead of getting a tattoo, I'd rather make my life a tattoo, sort of. Art. Along the lines of what you are saying.

Yes. Good thought. Art. Hmmmm...I must definitely work to improve the painting.

The medium seems more like sculpture though than painting. When you make a mistake, its difficult to fix it....

This is really stretching (or obliterating) the definition of the word art.

Your life as art? Even when you are doing the most dirty and mundane things? Even when you lapse into moments of hypocrisy? Even when you accidentally let yourself and others down?

What will separate your "art" from everyone else's?

The wonder of art is that it tells us what **should** be and not merely what is. It must be selective in that way. By saying my entire life is art, then you aren't affording yourself the ability to communicate and make concrete what you think life should be. You will only represent what is. Perhaps in a stylized manner, but style alone does not make something art.

Two artists paint the same woman. One adds only the things on her that contribute to her beauty (as judged by the artist). The other artist paints her almost photographically. He adds in the blemish on her cheek and her split ends. The two paintings are similar, but only one is a communication of values. The other is merely a representation of what is, without regards to how the woman **should** look (in the artists eyes).

I'm all for living an outstanding life, but lets not take a concept like "art" and spread it too thin.

If ones life is art I must be fingerpainting...

Hey kuvasz, Great question. If art is creating order out of chaos, that would be me, but I am more Manet than Monet; more Renoir than Degas, and more circles than angles, and I hope a work in progress.

I strive to live my life as art, but sometimes I have to resort to science.

Ever read "In the Penal Colony", by Franz Kafka, extra medium?

pinchehoto:-

I was a newbie once so I understand.

When you have got your knees brown I might tell you about a cave painter who had a go at depicting
"the things on her which contributed to her beauty".

EM:-

Don't read it pal.It's really depressing.

Thanks...

Ok, I read some summaries. Interesting. I've read some Kafka, but not this one. Our crimes tattooed into our skin? Wow. On some of us, they would run out of room...

Then of course there is The Illustrated Man by Bradbury. The tattoos come alive. Kind of a reversal of Kafka's idea.

Okay, now I really don't want any tattoos.

And I think that Kafka boy needed to marry a really hot woman, as it were. Or a hot guy or something. That would have cured his disease, at least for a few months...

Hmmm. From art to cockroaches to saber-toothed squirrels to those beautiful golden dogs on a ranch somewhere in Georgia.

Anyone see the movie "Memento"?

Came out maybe 3 or so years ago. Highly recommended. (Well I have kind of odd movie taste).

The guy has a form of amnesia. Well not exactly. His problem is he has no long term memory. He'll meet you and maybe spend all day with you today, and be totally coherent (so its not exactly like Alzheimer's either).

But the deal is, tomorrow he'll forget he ever met you.

So he tattoos things into his skin to remind himself of stuff.

Only problem is, he forgets what the tattoos symbolize, and how the tattooed phrases pertain to his life.

Interesting piece of movie-making.

I defy anyone to completely explain that plot. Well part of the whole deal is its inexplicable. Or 4 people can have their own conclusions they can all potentially be correct. A decent DVD rental.

Oh, one hilarious (darkly funny) part about that movie is of course he meets this woman. Has a great time with her, whatever.

Then of course he forgets he ever met her.

Next time he meets her, she's pissed he doesn't remember her. Hey guys out there, does this ring a bell? :wink:

Anyway though, she figures out a way she can use this against him. Imagine the crap you can pull on someone who can't remember you tomorrow. I mean, you could steal all their money, right in front of them. Run away, escape, they don't catch you. An hour later, they forget all about it, forget in fact they ever met you. Forget whether you are good or bad...

So she does all this crap. And she can keep doing it repeatedly, cause he'll forget all about it the next day! The next day, its like the first time they ever meet. Is she truly good or bad? Hard to say, part of the controversey.

If this guy's life was art, it would have to be like modern art. Throw paint on a canvas, spill it, sell it, and move on to the next piece.

But there is this dread hanging over the movie. You know the guy will never escape this dark wheel that sort of keeps repeating...

Actually the movie is almost a bit Kafkaesque in some respects.

What is it about tattoos & Kafka & existentialism & life as art?

What?

Last time I checked, art wasn't all about beauty. In fact, I think art is rarely about beauty. Or about what should be.

But that is not the question. And this is a good question.

I absolutely do think our lives are our greatest art - whether you live a good life or a bad life, whether it's your own fault or not.

Life is about making choices. So is art.

I've had a few false starts but I'm trying. I might end up in a forgotten corner of a forgotten museum but I'm trying very hard to make a masterpiece.

And I'm hoping that someone will recognize it as such long after I'm dead.

Wow, extra medium. That reminds me of a movie that I watched recently called "Unforgotten" ...more details later.

"Safe in the arms of morpheus", I hope.

Review info & trailer, etc. for Memento:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0209144/

Thanks Letty, will look forward to that. I'm always looking for really good DVD rentals....some of the best stuff is unknown flicks 5 or more years old...the latest popl releases are often just a waste of time...

I looked for reviews of your flick, but the only thing I could find of recent vintage was The Forgotten. Is that it?

There was an Unforgotten from around 1942 listed? Dang if you remember that one you have no trouble with memory...

Interesting Memento trivia:

"The medical condition experienced by Leonard in this film is a real condition called Anterograde Amnesia - the inability to form new memories after damage to the hippocampus. During the 1950s, doctors treated some forms of epilepsy by removing parts of the temporal lobe, resulting in the same memory problems."

Okay, I'll stop--I know, I should look for this film on the Film Forum. One of my favorite cult flicks. And it does fit nicely under "Life as Art" thank you very much for asking.

E.M. I may have cited the wrong title, but it had to do with a woman who kept looking for her child named Sam. The ending is wonderful. I'll have to research it, my friend.

Goodnight to all whose life is the perfect art.

heh. Modern Art. Or is it Post-Mod?

E. M. :-

These threads are like that movie. Yesterday' s posts are dead and gone.

What' s on today?

I think you could see your life as art, but not perfect.

Some peoples lives would be good art, others not so much.

You could see your life as a work of art in progress.

Some peoples lives are such great art it gets turned into art. (...they'll never take our FREEDOM !!!!)



PS LOVED Memento em