POV Ramblings

I bore myself. But I want to get this down so I can continue.

What I think separates great artists from technically gifted ones is vision.

While I was watching the commentary track of La Haine at the Tucson airport, Mathieu Kassovitz detailed what inspired the movie and how he was involved in the protests against the French police for incidents of police brutality. Every scene in La Haine, except one which I had always thought was out of place and I was glad to hear that Kassovitz acknowledged this in the commentary, propels the story and is hued with his vision/point-of-view: anti-establishment, violence perpetuates violence, and portrayal of life in the French projects.
I immediately thought of the movie in which fat George Clooney speaks Farsi. In Syriana, politics is a mere backdrop. It’s seasoned with political msg but it doesn’t say anything. I imagine a young Kassovitz would tell Syriana’s director, “If you’re going to spend that much money on a political movie, at least, have a fuckin’ point of view.”

Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing had a point-of-view. Michael Moore, even though I generally agree with him and I feel that he could make more persuasive arguments, at least, he has a point-of-view. Important movies have their visions of the world and portray them. Good movies have a point-of-view whether people agree with them or not.

So vision, a point-of-view, is important to me. Art that gives me perspective, expands my experiences or triggers thought as to what’s capable of being accomplished inspires me too.
Serra’s sculptures include me in the experience. My perception, balance, sense of self, is incorporated in the art. Without me, they’re metal slabs. It’s a much different experience being part of it than it is for me to see it from afar.
Lately, I’m enamored with the idea of vision and discipline. The first time I saw On Kawara’s date paintings at the Dia:Beacon, I was confused. The typeface seemed cool. But these were just dates on canvas. Reading the placard, you feel time and its oppression.
Today, I read about Xu Zhen, an artist in Shanghai. Apparently, in May 2005, he led an ascent on Mount Everest, the highest mountain on earth. His team had ice saws and pulleys and they proceeded to cut 1.86 meters (his own height) off the top and brought it back home to display.
"Audiences may not believe that this [piece of the peak] is real, which is similar to how people rarely question whether the height of Everest truly is 8848 meters. This relationship between belief and doubt has to deal with questions of standard, height, reality, and borders... The work points to the ridiculousness of people's belief in "facts" and "universal truths"."
It seems like a modern-day fairy tale. One day, Xu Zhen wakes up, and decides he’s going to climb all of Mount Everest and bring back the very top of it. If it’s true. That is pure vision and execution.

If man can’t go to the mountain, let the mountain come to man.

O.T. (Original Thought): Tupac's "I Ain't mad at Cha" and "Life Goes On," are the closest he ever came to embodying Phil Collins in public.

(Phil with Red Bandana)