What this is NOT, is a Philosopher thinking and talking about Art. That’s Aesthetics. Aesthetics is a thinker thinking about “The Good; The Beautiful” as in Plato’s SYMPOSIUM; or Emmanuel Kant’s CRITIQUE OF JUDGEMENT.
What this IS, is an Artist’s explanation of what Artists do. Artists are said to be misunderstood. They are misunderstood, though, because we don’t explain ourselves. For good or bad, The Dave has a rigorous philosophical background, AND I’m an Artist. I’m intending to explain us.
We think VERY DIFFERENTLY than occupational capitalists. We feel differently. We see reality differently.
TOPICS:
Introduction
TOUCHED WITH FIRE–Art, in Latin: “Ars, Artis,” relates to “cultivation,” to fire–“ARson,” fitting for clothing, or “ARm, armor” which, in turn, relates to “shoulder”–arm. Does an Artist draw with their ARM, a piano or guitar player, play with their ARM? And all Artists “cultivate” their Art.
First drawing since 2006. Just a sketch and I’m not happy with the Outlaw’s eyes. They look insecure, not fierce.
Like an actor, when I draw, I need to fill myself with the mood I am portraying. Insecure could be more the artist than the subject. The photograph is the subject of the drawing; the drawing is the artist.
How’s THAT for critical theory???!!! That critical theory angle makes BARGAINING WITH THE OUTLAW great art. Look out Andrea Fraser! My sketch is now Performance Art. Yikes!
People react differently to the word, “Hymn.” I find it wonderful how many 20-Somethings are finding Religion. I think it’s because they grew up without it, so they are coming at it fresh, with a clean slate.
Older people very often reject anything to do with Religion, including me, myself because I am/was associated with Religion.
I think people my own age, 70, resent me, personally. Because I quit Christian Ministry. I’m still a believer–don’t stop believing, I always say. It’s just the pay is bad.
I was 21 when I wrote MARRIAGE HYMN. That was in 1976. Here, in 2026, I note that I wrote a whole Marriage Hymn in 1976 that is completely “ungendered!” Can you imagine that???!!! I didn’t know what I was doing at 21 in 1976!
Rintrah slept most of their lives. Incarnated as The Dave for the last remembered time, The Dave never knew what to grow up to be–despite, at 18, asking everyone.
He is an Artist at 70, and 20th-Century America didn’t have aptitude tests for that career choice. Still doesn’t.
I came to Canada in 2006 to begin a new career as a Swedenborgian Christian Minister. I was un the middle of a drawing that I asked a female bass player to pose for, while I took some stills to work from. I loved the way she played upright, acoustic bass with her eyes half closed. I approached her after the show and she thought I was a musician (I was a memory of a musician, then), who wanted to jam out on her bass. “Our policy is to refuse . . .” she started to say.
When I explained myself more fully, she graciously stood and began to play, eyes half-closed. I snapped some stills with a disposable camera I bought at a drug store: there were no cell phones back then.
Among all my worldly goods, I brought my portfolio to Canada for a “real job” called Swedenborgian Christian Minister. After 3 years of never drawing, before Canada I had drawn THE BEST SKETCH I EVER MADE ALL MY LIFE. I do not understand it. No practice drawings. Must be my Muse awakened. I took the Drawing to an art shop to have an Artist frame it. “Please take care! I don’t think I can draw like his again!” I exclaimed! It’s on a stand on the floor, next to my piano keyboards, in my temporary Government-Housing, man cave. No big-screen tv in my man cave, although I like movies.
MY FRIENDS, WHY DID I STOP DRAWING???!!! Tell me because I don’t know.
I quit Swedenborgian Christian Ministry June 18, 2023 and I believe believers resent me quitting, resent me. I still believe, won’t stop believing. Just don’t want the job of professional believing. The pay is bad.
THE UNIVERSE awoke me from my slumber with one eye awake. Probably because it was sick, sick and tired of the Art spectre I was haunting Artists I wasn’t.
ENIGMATIC DR DAVE ENTERPRISES, PRELUDED
I am 70 years old. I quit Christian Ministry at 68 years old. But that’s just me.
Isn’t it remarkable how free-flowing this narrative is, without systematic development, like my sermons or published Articles in University Journals. Artistic–eh? We say “eh” in Canada.
William Blake was the first Romantic Poet and was a founding member of the Swedenborgian Church. He created a mythic giant character named, “Los.” Los symbolizes the Creative process. Los is pictured surrounded by fires and Artistic Creation is Los hammering out Art on a blacksmith’s anvil.
Los is the Spanish word “Sol,” spelled backwards. Sol is the sun. Wiki explains another aspect of Los that is interesting but I think it’s a reach. Wiki follows the other Spanish word, los–el, los. El means “the.” Plural is “los”–Dia de Los Muertos: “Day of the Dead.” If Los is plural of el, Wiki thinks Los can also mean El. El is the ancient Hebrew word for Creator God–El-ohim in Genesis.
In the image I am attaching, there is a batlike character hovering over Los. That is the character Spectre. Spectre haunts Los, Blake himself, and us. This time I like what Wiki says about Spectre:
“In Los’s case, the Spectre is Los’s–and Blake’s– Self-Righteousness and Pride, as well as the voice inside him that tells him he is wasting his time, Albion and humanity will never understand. The Spectre is a kind of challenge, something to erect an alternative to. It also has energy that Los can use. Blake speaks of Los’s forcing the Spectre to work with him at building the new city.”
I am continually asking myself,
“Why am I labouring so hard making my Poem right? Why am I sweating in the Fiery Forge, hammering on Los’ anvil? I’m not getting paid–it’s not even a real job. Nobody’s going to read this. I’m wasting my time.”
I have not answered the question why I’m doing it. Then I keep doing it.
TOUCHED WITH FIRE: ART AND MANIA–Too Hot To Handle
Why do people read a story? They want something bigger and more than average. An ordinary woman hooks up with and marries a Scottish Laird. They all live in a magnificent castle and enjoy boundless wealth--eh?
No one wants to read a story,
"Yah, I went grocery shopping and bought some carrots. Potatoes were on sale, so I bought some potatoes. I needed toilet paper."
Consider this quote from the Swedenborgian Poet, William Blake. It’s a little bigger than grocery shopping. Blake is writing about Artistic Creation in an extended metaphor of giving birth. The character “Los” symbolizes the creator, Artist. Blake isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. I like him:
"8. The globe of life blood trembled
Branching out into roots:
Fibrous, writhing upon the winds:
Fibres of blood, milk and tears:
In pangs, eternity on eternity.
At length in tears and cries imbodied
A female form trembling and pale
Waves before his deathy face
9. All Eternity shuddered at sight
Of the first female now separate
Pale as a cloud of snow
Waving before the face of Los
10. Wonder, awe, fear, astonishment
Petrify the eternal myriads."
Wow, eh!? That Poet is hot, literally.
Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison wrote a research book whose title I use in my fb post: TOUCHED WITH FIRE. In her book, Dr Redfield-Jamison found that there is a higher incidence of mental illnesses in the arts community, than in the general population. Everybody always thought Artists are half-baked; Dr. Jamison gave it clinical validation.
I said that the Poet is hot. Blake lets us into just how hot he is. Again, talking about his own character, Los. Blake compares Artistic Creation to a blacksmith amid the Fiery Forge. William Blake also draws on Alchemical Imagery:
I dropped off my Poetry book, LINES DRAWN AUTHENTIC: A Realized Man, with a major bookstore national chain in my city. It is already in the online system, but this particular store in a big mall does not have it on their shelves. If they accept it, I will do a 2-day book signing.
I have my head on straight. The bookstore will be making a BUSINESS DECISION, only. They will decide if their customers would likely buy it–WHETHER IT WOULD SELL THERE.
I have confidence in the Literary value of my Art. I hope you do. I hope that you labor hard at Los’ Anvil–William Blake’s fictitious mythic giant symbolizing the Creative process. I hope you do not settle for less than as perfect as you can make your Art. That’s how I work.
So far, however, I’m about the only one who believes that my Art has significant meaning. It’s a hard place to be. Maybe it’s where you are, too?
It puts us in a hard place. The same place F. Scott Fitzgerald was in, and died in. THE GREAT GATSBY did not even sell out the first edition. Fitzgerald died thinking he was a failure as a serious writer. He WAS popular. He WAS rich. But he made most of his money writing comic short stories in magazines like our VANITY FAIR; or VOGUE. Not “great literature.”
Hemingway, his friend sold millions of books, was rich and famous, AND was considered a great Literary figure in his own lifetime. THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA won Hemingway a Nobel Prize. Fitzgerald had none of this. He was like most of us.
I don’t think I need to say that now, THE GREAT GATSBY is considered one of the great Literary works of the 20th Century. Equal with Hemingway’s best.
Too bad he didn’t know it. He was like most of us. With one difference:
I know that what I’m writing is a significant contribution to English literature. I’m the only one who knows it.
“The notes are the same in E”–Dr. Dave Fekete; “Rintrah.”
UPSETTING–I find this scene in 6 UNDERGROUND very disturbing violence. Probably what makes it so disturbing for me is the sick, glib joking around while timeless Art is distroyed by a tawdry sporting car. The gallery is The Florence Academy, where Michelangelo’s David is. DEADPOOL is like that, too, but without art.
The joking getaway driver is racing through priceless, tumeless Art. He has no concept of the intense meaning Art had for hundreds of years, for millions of people and would have for hundreds more years for millions more people.
I like cracking jokes as much as anyone. I'm not as fond of being glib. Aristotle says a hood sense of humour is a character virtue--just not buffoonery. Traditional Chinese Medicine also thinks too serious is a sickness, and Chinese Ideal Character profiles include "cheerfulness." Taoist Sages may not mind buffoonery. I don't think wit diminishes domeone's dignity.
But when someone is baring their depths in Pastoral Confidence, I will not start to crack glib jokes.
I'll note that the first Batman Feature Film had Joker, Jack Nicholson spray painting timeless oil paintings.
As an unemployed Elder, I have finally arrived at a position in life I’ve always wanted: I am free to do my art, in possession of some cultivated “skill,” and I have the will and motivation to do it.
I hope younger Artists are able to find their way here; I never thought I could when I was younger. Certain unreliable factors blocked me:
GREATNESS: I wanted to “make it,” “make a name for myself,” in fact, to be “great.” Now, I want to make art. I have the luxury of it being too late in my life to “arrive.” What a load off! I’m writing a poem about it: JUST HAVING FUN; but it’s not on today’s Agenda.
EMPLOYMENT: I thought I had to have a good and successful job. WHAT A CROCK. When you get to Senior Citizen status, nobody wants to hire you. It will happen to you. EMBRACE IT AS THE BLESSING IT IS! My wish for you is that you find a way to bypass all that. Say you can’t get a job so now you are free to devote yourself to your one true love in your life: your Art.
The only essential thing, is I have Canadian CPP and US Social Security to live on, even if it’s not really enough. It works.
2. Practice Piano–My own song, PANIC STATE (I wrote a blog about it a little while ago). Get familiar with the E-Minor Pentatonic Scale; also the chords associated with that Scale–the Dominant Chord is B7 or B Minor 7; the IV Chord is A-Minor; the “blues note,” or flat 5, is Bb (B flat). These are the things I need to know and play without thinking–in every key. Today it is E-Minor Pentatonic.
3. MALL WALKING: It’s too cold to walk outside, and walking is a different kind of exercise than Chen Taiji, which I also do (Grandmaster Chen Zhonghua Practical Method Taiji).
When you want a “Feel Good Pep Talk;” when you NEED a Feel Good Pep Talk, look back at where you were, and where you are, now. Mark your own progress–it’s good enough, and good enough to go at your own rate of speed.
Neither compare yourself. Not to any writer or anybody: your competition is your “last self.” “Last Iteration of Identity,” I put it in Poetry.
I took that girl’s last dollar (A Loonie, Canadian Dollar) for a few poems of mine!!! She was a student at a Christian College, too!
David Fekete 