Thursday, July 9, 2009

The Artist as a Philosopher (or the Philosopher as an Artist) before the Canvas of Nothing

What is so philosophical--deeply philosophical--about the artist but her/his enormous capability to be excited/elated/exhilarated by the challenges of the Nothing. S/he looks at the blank canvas before her/him not as nothing but as a space of unlimited possibilities--a Nothing, a not-yet, a Becoming--that belongs to the future. The present Nothing promises a future Being--Nothing Becoming Being.

And all depends on a creativity that is purely human--a creativity that merges with a sense of the future that is likewise absolutely human, no more no less. Had this not been so, humanity couldn't have seen the wonders of comfort, sophistication, information and ease that revolve around the present reality like a merry-go-round in a seemingly endless carnival of life.

Human creativity . . . a sense of the future . . . a philosophical defiance of certain programmed limitations where nothing is nothing, where zero is nothing. Rather, a philosophical affirmation that Nothing is something--that Zero is significant in the formation of hundreds, thousands, millions . . . ad infinitum.

The artist guides the philosopher. . . . May the former find inspiration in the latter.

At the end of the day, may the artist find a common convergence point with the philosopher so that the two become one.

(c) Ruel F. Pepa, 9 July 2009

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