talk back
to jack
by Jacob Potemski
Criticizing certain institutions, megalomaniacs, and the
bourgeoisie for misusing and abusing the idea of artistic
merit, is valuable. Doing away with the idea altogether is
not.
If we don’t have an idea of quality then we don’t
have a perspective from which to justifiably critique a work
that is devoid of any creativity; that is sexist, racist,
or plain stupid.
An example: this year Trent Film and Cinema 379
played films by Stan Brakhage. His work is beautiful.
It shows us the highest potential of sight by taking ordinary
objects out of context and project them into a space where
they become limitlessly transformed. A red shirt becomes a
whole network of inter-playing colours, of abstract folds
and creases that generate movement by configuring in strange
and innumerable ways.
We are no longer presented with an ordinary object, but with
seeing itself. We see the multiple possibilities of
light and line in perpetual movement, the richness of depth
inside an image; we see how a thing can become other than
itself; we see it in the process of becoming what it
is not yet; we see the newness that the unlimited potential
of sight brings forth again and again, all in a single frame.
That’s quality, and knowing it doesn’t lead to
‘dashed dreams’, quite the contrary.
But maybe I just haven’t reached nirvana yet. Ooh! I
can’t wait though.. how blissful must be the land of
those who can’t see the difference between art and performances
that just try vainly to get our approving attention, or our
money, by reproducing cliches. How peaceful and indifferent.
I can’t help thinking that if more people valued quality
art over crap then Cinema 379 wouldn’t be trying to appeal
to white-trash slasher-film
fans (that’s a diss).
We don’t need a generic standard of quality or an ego
icon that we can all reproduce verbatim. But I think we need
an idea of what it means to show what has not yet been seen,
or create something distinctive or different.
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