Art Isn’t Everything... It’s Just About Everything.
Let us not underestimate the influence of our surroundings upon us. By ‘surroundings,’ I mean both our physical environment, and our choice in friends.
One of the most memorable times in my life is when I was exploring colleges. It was a time when I was learning many new things, very quickly. To this day, I remember the sample lecture that I heard the day I visited Mills College as a part of student welcome day. The topic was an examination of artists whose works were collected by The Stein Family, and their influence on Gertrude Stein’s writing style.
Slides flashed depicting works by Cezanne, Monet, Degas, Matisse, Renoir, Gaugin, and Picasso. Most of these Avant Garde artists were total unknowns at the time their work was purchased by The Steins. However, these artists were their friends. The lecture analyzed the unconventional use of color, the undisguised brush strokes, which often appear in a moving, winding fashion, the use of Cubism and Impressionism. Blobs of paint forming either utterly distinct, or entirely blurred lines.
Gertrude Stein’s own writing style is known for its circuitous nature, its strange vague reference that oddly makes sense. It is marked by repetition in phrasing to create a deeper and more expansive significance to her words. One can’t help but think, reading a Stein quote, like, ‘It takes a lot of time to be a genius, you have to sit around so much doing nothing, really doing nothing.’ that she was sitting around – looking at these pieces of art, floor to ceiling in her home – and parodying their genius to enhance her own genius. A seemingly innocuous phrase like this, read with such ease, rolls right off the page. But in crafting it, she likely contemplated it deeply.
Returning now to my initial statement about our surroundings… What do you look at each day? What photos and images are at your desk or on your desktop? What do you see on social media? (It's unclear whether cat videos raise our I.Q., but they do raise our spirits.) What is it like in your home? Who are the influential people in your life? Who motivates you when you aren’t feeling it? Be reminded that their thoughts and conversation topics either raise (or lower) your consciousness. Try to take the time to search for inspiring things and people to keep around yourself.. for you may discover your own creative genius. And remember, like Ms. Stein, to support the artists in your life, like.. say.. ME (*shameless plug*) by visiting my website and downloading my music.
If you are interested in learning more about the Stein art collection, check out the article “An Eye For Genius,” from Smithsonian.com.