Art Materialism - an emerging movement

All of a sudden, my collections of s-craps became "a thing"

Ciao! Tutto bene?

Are you ok?

This is the 32nd edition since I started and the last edition of the 2023. Ok, I need to do something “provocative” just to close this year, right?

I found this Art Materialism post and it made me think, a LOT of thinking. First thing I did was to make some research.

What is Art Materialism?

There are lots and lots of Artists that give to the words “made with” a new and innovative twist. How it is possible that something like this that “exists” since ages can become an “emerging movement”?

Why this and why now?

I’m going to depict a harsh scenario, sorry for that, but it helps me to get to the point.

Experience

The holy grail… everything is about creating shortcut to experience. And, very often if not always, experience goes hand in hand with the word “different”.

I tried the new restaurant, the food wasn’t the best but the experience was great, different that the usual

What we are talking about? What are we looking for?

Ok, now, isn’t this “experiencing the world” supposed to build my EXPERIENCE, meaning a practical knowledge learned by direct involvement and participation in the real life?

Yes, it is!

Here it is.

This is what define what is ordinary, what is familiar and what is “different”.

However, it is not uncommon that it makes us to pigeonhole the experience.

Oh yeah, this reminds me that.

Moreover, is seeking familiarity the path to a bland experience?

Of course, not at all.

Does this rings a bell?

Of course I can always choose to turn a blind eye to the DIFFERENT or to gloss over, to live a life of denial and evading the issues. It’s up to me.

OR

I can embrace this and dive even deeper.

What if we let Creativity to spin the wheel?

Literally! Rather than aiming for the different, can we try to invent something off the chart?

We already have a few examples of this. Some works from the Masters evoke a “spectrum of sensations” that are not explicitly addressed in the works themselves.

It is clear that, to experience this, I have to deal with my human limits, I have to let my guards down.

And it is also clear that Creativity is the way to summon up Experience.

Ok, that’s it, I closed the circle.

A few links you may find interesting

Art Materialism : the post that triggered this newsletter

Shinro Ohtake : Japanese contemporary artist. From the website:

Ohtake states that his practice is grounded in working with “what’s already there.” He collects all kinds of materials and images and then recombines them through a wide array of means.

How AI reduces the world to stereotypes : ha! This is a beautifully crafted post, very interesting and with beautiful images.

Samer Peerachai : a homeless artist living in Bangkok and drawing publicly mysterious mind maps. I find this so fascinating and intriguing.

Thank you so much!

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I wish you a wonderful December, a merry Christmas and see you all in 2024!

Ciao!

Mauro