Lover of trading, tacos, 3D/AR/VR, cryptos, and most things Japanese

The Animus of Art

The Etymology of Animus

From Latin animus (“the mind, in a great variety of meanings: the rational soul in man, intellect, consciousness, will, intention, courage, spirit, sensibility, feeling, passion, pride, vehemence, wrath, etc., the breath, life, soul”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂enh₁- (“to breathe”), closely related to anima, which is a feminine form.

When Bob asked me to create my Top Ten definitions of what it means for something to be Art, I dabbled thusly:

• In order for something to be Art, it must be a vulnerable expression.
• In order for something to be Art, it must provoke a reaction.
• In order for something to be Art, it must stem from a growth mindset.
• In order for something to be Art, it must remain at the mercy of ongoing definition and judgement.
• In order for something to be Art, it must be broad enough to include, and specific enough to exclude.
• In order for something to be Art, it must be perceived.
• In order for something to be Art, it must struggle to stay dynamic, pliable, adaptive.
• In order for something to be Art, it must hold a mirror up to a subconscious need.
• In order for something to be Art, it must create a choice for the recipient.
• In order for something to be Art, it must be an imperative crash of brain and ego.

And then, in this hyperbole, I was asked to elaborate on one specific definition. I pick perception.

Perception:

• It has an anatomical / biological connotation: how a living being’s senses take in and make sense of data around it.
• It has an intellectual connotation: how data once consumed is examined and analyzed, resulting in a new data set derived from implicit learning.
• It can be synonymous for personalization: how a person experiences and chooses to engage with data in a way that is unique from the way another person chooses to engages with the same data.

If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? In Schrödinger’s thought experiment, we cannot know for certain if the cat is dead or alive until the moment we open the box and observe it. Perception is reality.

Regardless of the trope, we must perceive something in order for us to understand what we are, in relationship to another. Perception allows us to exist both alone and as a part of the context around us. Art in a vacuum, unobserved, unheard, unwitnessed, is the promise of a thought, a hypothetical of the artist’s conjuring. It is only when we open the box and observe, when remain present to hear it fall, do we know for certain there is Art.

My independently written, much less artful reply to the question of “What is Art?” is as follows:

In order for something to be Art, it must:

• Be imagined
• Have an audience
• Be created
• Inspire curiosity
• Be beautiful
• Be subjectively interpreted
• Be human made*
• Be considered as Art by one person
• Be polarizing
• Evoke an emotional response

For me, the defining characteristic of whether something can be considered Art is whether it evokes an emotional response. That response may be a smile, a warming, a cooling, anger, even hatred. Art has the ability to move each of us in unique ways. It can open eyes and minds. If something that someone created changes your emotional state in any way – particularly if the artist was seeking to generate that very response in the viewer – it is Art. The lines are always blurred, always subjective, and that’s a big part of what makes Art, well, Art. One person may be moved to tears by a work, while another may dismiss it outright. Experiencing Art is a wholly individual thing, nobody can do it for you, and when you encounter someone who shares your perspectives it is an immediate connection point to a relational node in our human network.

*Side note, human made is now an outdated concept for art. AI can now “dream” and then present visual representations of those “dreams.” I find the imagery quite striking, and could consider some Art. As the technology advances, humans are teaching machines how to create, and the machines are creating some very interesting results.

I spent a couple hours working on a tattoo design today. I’ve been wanting to get one to commemorate my community placement, saying farewell to Pueblo, and my sunny disposition about life in general. I’ve been toying with some ideas, and always thought the Aztec sun god would make a great piece for my right shoulder.

After browsing pages and pages of images, I didn’t see any that fit what I was looking for, so I grabbed a couple to use as inspiration and created this design. It’s not 100% complete, but it’s close. I think I’m going to add a little more detail to the inner rings, and add some depth to the black flames that outline the image rather than have them so flat.

I really like the white-tipped, Japanese Ukiyo-e style wave paintings and have considered trying to work some around the design to get a bit of fire and water going, but tats are pretty expensive and I haven’t worked out how the total design will mesh yet, so I’m going to get the sun done first. Hopefully my checks will come in next week and I’ll be able to get it done then, but it’s probably going to have to wait until next month.

I need to find a good, detail-oriented tat artist. Right now I’ve just seen some of the work at the local shop, but I know many of you have tats and could probably recommend someone – so please do! They’ll need to be good at fine details and shading, as there are plenty of both in this design. Let me know who you know or where to go! 🙂

Edit: This one’s looking a lot better –

The Power of Positive Deviance

• A “positive deviant” is an individual who represents an exception to a social norm

• A community with a problem must discover it’s own positive deviants — people who have independently avoided the problem and thus hold clues to the solution

• This strategy works on many levels, situations, and industries

• Systems pass through four stages on the road to change:

  • prolonged equilibrium – system resists change, though deviants exist

  • invitation stage – chaos engulfs community, opening the door for change

  • self-organization – develops as members look inward for a solution

  • unintended consequences – unexpected solutions and results

– Richard Pascale
via @NickPassig