Pedro - Art, Success and the (lack of) Meaning of Life

There are artists and there are artists. Those discussed by Tom Wolfe in "The Painted Word," are the Madonna's and Michael Jackson's of the Art world. I believe not one living artist can compare to them for the simple fact that, whether talented or not, they are certainly unique and beyond critical discussion (critics like flies around the lion).

I will thus like to focus my comment on the "common" or "real" artist. It is these artists who impact the art and (with luck) overall local communities, and have a real participation on the art world (as opposed to domination, like Olafur Eliasson or Koons, or, give me a break, Paul McCartney and his giant Paris Butt Plug).

If we take a look at the way the middle art world is organized today, it gives both challenge and promise. There is no virtue beyond certain power and fame. But the middle game is full of enthusiastic players with all the available tools of the internet, which is also a middle game board. The incredible capacity to "shout out" and spark interest within potential large circles without national or even language borders is simply unrivaled. Think Brandon Stanton and Humans of New York. The guy was unemployed when he turned his hobby--street photography--into a project that is all the fuzz today, five years later. True, he is not in the middle anymore, but he certainly started out there and would be no-one without the power of the internet and its massive social network appeal.

I do believe that the internet is really just a spark. Everybody has their five minutes. The internet, I believe, does not sustain mediocrity in the serious art world. To go beyond the five minutes, I think the artist and his projects must either have substance already, or find it through actual people connections that go beyond "likes." If the work speaks for more than five minutes, and the artists can keep up producing good work, I think that both eh internet and real connections can sustain a middle career with further potential (as with Brandon Stanton-- after all, he did spend a few years just on a single, highly focused project).

Success: Success for me has a quite clear name: Architecture License. There is literally nothing else in my mind except this life-long goal. To become a registered architect is the fulfillment of my youth and the beginning of my adulthood. I do not care what happens after the license because I know it will be all good. It is this path that I'm right now that has to be threaded carefully to achieve that dream. Success is professional success in my field of interest. All my passion, energy and heart are dedicated towards this goal.

Meaning of Life: There is none, as far as a universal meaning of life is concerned. We are factually a bunch of carbon atoms that have been recombining since the beginning of time and space. We are made of "star stuff," as Carl Sagan would say. The meaning of life is thus an illusion, albeit a valid one, set by us to help us get in synch with the universe. It is to go beyond doctrine and into pure spirituality and inquiry or curiosity of the world. We are such nothingness. What a freedom!