Art 80s-style!

So...

Piggybacking on yesterday's topic, I would just like to add an observation I made later on that evening. I was watching those "Top 1-hit Wonders of the 80s" episodes on MTV or VH-1 TV (I can't remember which station it came on, at this moment -- which in itself was kinda sad commentary for the programming offered on cable TV late Saturday afternoons) and I was absolutely amazed at just how many great songs I remembered from the 80s! It was like a happy flashback to classic standards, as well as quirky music and tunes that flooded my mind with cool memories.

Now, when I was listening to the music, it never occurred to me that these musical geniuses, known even if only for one tune (at that time), might not have lasted in their industry into the next decade. The tunes were so catchy. Infectious, even. Surely, they had discovered a gold mine by tapping into the youthful market of pop music! How could they not have?

Yet interview after interview, yielded ghosts of popularity who confessed that they had followed their art to a deserted and lonely place -- only to discover that they should have played more to what their "fans" wanted. In short, because it would have been more profitable for them. Following their dreams, their vision of how their musical "art" should have been done, had led them down a path of "irrelevance."

But they did it anyway.

And I had to think to myself: Is their a message in this for us to gain from it? Some proverbial wisdom, perhaps? Maybe, don't follow your dreams? Or, don't take that once-in-a-lifetime risk, whether it's for fame or whatever else your passion may be, because it may not pan out over the long haul? I don't know but I came away with the experience of hearing them talk about their experiences with the conviction that the wisdom I should gain from their stories is that we SHOULD, by all means, take the risks! I know the shows format kinda poked fun at the now-aged, "has-beens" of the industry, but I couldn't help but respect them for giving it a shot. One caveat, though: Never underestimate the value of keeping a strong backup plan in play so that you have something to fall back on during those lean years. (You never know how long the drought may last!)

As it pertains to art, I guess my position would be that kids still need to be taught how to use different media to communicate, and the school setting (in particular, the public school) is the place where it should be fostered. And not only kids, because most of us, adults, enjoy going to the museum, or hearing a good song,experiencing someone sharing (hopefully) a talent of some sort. Creativity (which is really what "art" represents) should be Encouraged, but true expression should not necessarily depend on "fads" and what "everybody else" is doing, should it? Most great works have only been recognized after years had passed and society had a chance to recognize exactly what "greatness" they had been in the midst of.

I think our individuality makes our art relevent. The dilemma comes when you ask, then, if, 20 years from now, the artwork represents a social commentary for our era or if it merely was an outlying statistic. A fluke.

I think we all have to honestly ask ourselves if what we are doing is really "relevent." Are you doing something "relevent?" Or is it even really about relevence, as opposed to us just using our time here on earth well? Hmmmm...