Only Michael Jordan can stop you

Chrome Sparks.

Naturally, I feel as though the subject matter of my blog evolves with the many twists and turns of my life, i.e. growing up, living in a unique culture where language dictates the everyday realities of society, meeting characters such as those at Electric Forest who consistently expand my idea of what is normal or even possible, and reading academic discourse which, when linked together, begins to offer legitimate explanations of my far-out questions on the universe and how we’re all connected (and shit). Whereas I used to post these great questions like I was searching for a black cat in a dark room, this post is dedicated to the fact that I feel like I am starting to find answers. For example, the concept I used to vaguely describe as technicolor- a world without categories- is actually an established theory called “l’informe” coined by George Bataille. In this way, Katy’s Canvas is changing. Maybe it’s because I’m starting to not be so afraid of “the system”, order, tradition, etc. Maybe it’s because I’ve seen and experienced more diversity. Looking back at the year, here’s a summary of what I’ve learned:

• There’s no need to escape “the system”. Think of clocks, road signs, medical and academic institutions: systems are in place to make life easier to grow beyond the system. They are not meant to hold you back. Rules exist so people can be more efficient and know their own direction. So that they need not waste time on trivial matters.
• I think one should take full advantage of the system rather than rebelling against or escaping from it, for it does not control you if you can learn to control it. In other words, one needs to understand how and why the system works if one wants flexibility within the system.

• Knowledge of the system can be acquired by talking to as many people as possible, from as many vantage points as possible.

• Along these lines, knowing tradition is crucial to creating something original. As 20th century poet TS Eliot once said, “What happens when a new work of art is created is something that happens simultaneously to all the works of art which preceded it”. What we make in our generation, from art, film and fashion to writing, music and other cultural trends, will always be in conversation with past, present, and future creations. What is needed is a consideration of historical context, an understanding of the meaning of one’s creation in placement after other creations, if we want our additions to enlighten the ongoing conversation in new and expansive ways.

• While we kids generally associate tradition with black and white film, argyle sweaters, cooked carrots and Shakespeare, we need to realize that tradition need not be a restriction that our parents uphold us to. Rather, we should look at tradition as an open textbook of trial and error. Of what has been done and what should never happen again. For example, our generation saw the seductive shortcomings of men in bell-bottoms in the seventies and has been better off because of it (you don’t see them anymore). Ultimately, if one intends to do anything that hasn’t been done before, which many postmodern authors, artists and creators struggle with on the daily, one must first consult the textbook of tradition to make sure one is not accidentally replicating the unfortunate equivalent of fashion trends in the Disco era. See: NY Time’s article How To Live Without Irony, The Creative Act by Marcel Duchamp
• Art is not what it looks like. It’s what it does to you.
• Whether we approach it from a physics, math or biology perspective, or a philosophical, psychological or historical perspective, I have learned that we are are all studying the same thing.
• BUT, life is an asymptote. The closer we get to objectivity, to reaching the definitive axis, the more we realize we will never quite reach it. See: Ignorance by Stuart Firestein
• And that’s why the world has so much to explore, such endless curiosity and mystery, no matter how much we would like to think we have ordered it all in objective systems. The systems of definition and order are not as rigid as I once as a teenager thought; they are malleable, subjective, and they ultimately help you if you work to improve them.

Magic surrealist paintings by Rob Gonsalves.

Make of this what you will.

^???? from David OReilly on Vimeo.