What is art?

Prod a severed frog's leg with electricity and the dead nerve will signal muscles to contract, forcing the leg to kick. Stimulus, reaction.

Attempting art is breath-holding exploration though unfamiliar topography. A conscious decision to strike out overland, in hopes of an alternate route home.

To me, that first deliberate step into the unknown feels like electricity when my brain decides to irrevocably alter an instrument into which I've invested over a hundred hours of hand labor. My body reacts with adrenalin.

Tingle of risk.

Sometimes, the electricity extends to others. Photos of Simplicity headless multi-scale guitar sparked fantastic comments:

"Wow. Nice effects. That looks like it's been bolted together out of salvage from a sea battle."

"Looks like a medieval weapon."

"Now I am sure that you were abducted by aliens and somehow managed to steal their secret guitar designs."

"I really love the instrument. In particular the design & build quality of the controls and their re-location is such an elegant solution to a long standing issue. The instrument makes a strong statement."

But is it art?

My undergrad poetry prof. Peter Wood once said: "The purpose of art is to comfort the afflicted, and to afflict the comfortable."

PS: I should clarify on record that (yes) I was abducted by aliens and shown guitar design technology. Radiohead wrote about my experience in Subterranean Homesick Alien:

I wish that they'd swoop down in a country lane,
late at night when I'm driving.
Take me on board their beautiful ship,
show me guitars as I'd love to see them.

I'd tell all my friends but they'd never believe me,
They'd think that I'd finally lost it completely...

Comments

[Jesse]

I absolutely love this quote, "The purpose of art is to comfort the afflicted, and to afflict the comfortable." Thanks for sharing!

[Rick Toone]

I've often thought about that quote over the past twenty years, applying its logic every time I've attempted art, no matter what medium.

The circular nature of his language is inescapable — simultaneous acts of both wounding and healing. In the presence of art I sometimes feel one, sometimes the other...but never both at once.

[Kerry Kruger]

A quote I carry from Art School is "There is no art without suffering".
Which isn't really true, it just sounds appropriately effete...once you've been, you're pretty much branded as Gay anyway.
My other favorite quote is from my Drawing teacher who shambled in the first day,clearly fried from the night before,and asked..."Anybody bring any jelly doughnuts?"
I knew immediately I was not in Business School. He spent the entire year drawing what he saw when he closed his eyes and rubbed them. Seriously.

It's (art) clearly on a sliding scale, and those who profess to be best at it still must be elected or accepted by those who have elevated themselves to such status ahead of one.
Which is always annoying to those who are
breaking new ground, it's interesting to note that anything truly new will offend about ninety percent of the public, if youre doing it right. Then ninety percent of the remaining group will try to:
1. relate it to something they're comfortable with
2., Crap on it immediately because they have that window for a second and then ask why it's not the item in 1., forgoing any sort of reason or basis for their bile.
3., 'Correct' whatever they feel is available for criticism, valid or not, and expect you to justify their critique, and
4., generally go buy that Tele at Guitar Center.
So I don't really worry about Feedback as to Artistic Merit in guitars anymore.
I've been sitting in at the Neal Moser Forum for a while, largely to justify my disdain for the opinions of Metalheads, but also because I've designed a couple dozen guitars that fit the heading, and threw a design up that's pretty good but a bit cartoony, (I certainly don't show anything really good there) just to illustrate a point someone else was making about a certain design feature, and was immediately told by a 'member' called worldsmostVile that it was the worst guitar Ever. You can't pay for that kind of feedback. Now I can go on, knowing that one's out of the way.
Ah, art.

[Rick Toone]

Hilarious, Kerry. Thanks for the laugh. I just cut my thumb...does that count as suffering?

Have you seen the film "Art School Confidential"? The plot is forgettable, but Tricia said it reminded her so much of experiences at Mason Gross.

(thick framed black glasses optional)

Speaking of Art — capital "A" — I thought Tarantino's remake of "Inglourious Basterds" was absolutely phenomenal.

[Mike]

Kerry — I just gave up on one of the project guitar forums because no one there wants to see anything outside of ordinary. I don't want to build something I can go buy. Apparently we'll never see eye to eye. Hilarious post BTW.