I’ve been reading The Faith Club, in which 3 friends of different religions discuss their commonalities and differences. They talked about ritual and its importance. To me, there is often more life in quick sketches where the process is visible. I wish my finished work didn't lose that energy! I wish the world agreed that art is ritual rather than the creating of a thing. Religion doesn't require you to leave the ritual bearing a product (worthy of approval, or sale, or critique.) People understand that the ritual is meaningful of itself. The visible part of a ritual, or what remains afterwards, is the altar or other center point where the ritual took place. Ritual trappings are incidental: burned down candles for instance. I persist in turning this around so my ritual is a throwaway, and the end product speaks alone. Imagine slowly beginning to turn that around so that the ritual became more meaningful and the result only derives value from the process. Well, this is an ongoing conversation I've been having internally for a while.
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This is so profound and something I tried to articulate to a friend in a conversation the other day but I did not say it as eloquently as you did here. I'm glad for your visit to my blog as I had a chance to read this. Thank-you.
Thanks, Ganga. Maybe there's another definition of doing art: making your pleasure visible to others. I'm posting again to catch the contagious "fun" from artists like you doing your work.
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