Special 2016 “Alan Harrison’s Birthday” Edition: Pack Up the Babies and Grab the Old Ladies – And an Easy-To-Fulfill Wish List
I was born on May 14. Conceived on a hot August night. Neil Diamond would’ve been proud. He was old enough to have a kid then, so…who knows? Brother Love? Are you my papa?
From him, I want flowers.
From you, I want (this is your cue):
- A 137-word card. ( <–Yes, that’s a link.)
- Share your favorite 137 Words post with your social network (that’s “share,” not “like”).
- To join a great company with a great mission. In Seattle.
- Health for The Kid.
- Guidance for The Kid.
- The love of my life to be happy, fulfilled, and curious. You know who you are.
- The ability for you to guide your favorite nonprofit to safety, security, and success.
- Brilliantly measurable missions, better than you believe you’re capable of.
- Complete, successful execution of those brilliant new missions.
- Pie, not cake.
Where’s a good Medici when you need one? Oh, right. They’re still here.
Art for art’s sake? Not so much. Want to be paid? Then there had better be a good story behind it. Or you’re famous. Or you’re dead.
Artistry is everywhere we look… in everything we touch. Look at your desk right now. Find something with no art.
You can’t. Even paper clips have shape, color, and light.
But is a paper clip for its own sake? No. It clips paper. But it is no less artistic.
In 2014, art for art’s sake is aesthetic dogma meant to encourage artists to focus on their own thoughts, as though purity of thought is equivalent to purity of meaning – and, therefore, audiences are irrelevant to art.
Quasi-utopian Codswallop.
Whether commissions are contracted or in the open market, successful art requires patronage in the form of a sponsor, buyer, or audience.
137 Words 