Art and the 30-year-old

Different things in the world of art have been “speaking” to me. It’s like when you step into a living room and the television talks about something you’ve been thinking about all day; or when you find that book you’ve been looking for the entire while. Glimpses, words, snippets, and blurbs… I am a Calvanist by nature; everything occurs for a reason. Whether big or small, and for whatever impact at that point in time, each event has significance.

            Weaved in through this is my life, my observations, my personal involvement in art and the world around me. I’ll start with my fave subject: the movies.

            I have been attempting to catch as many documentaries as I can; I have really been influenced by a few. “Why We Fight,” and “Who Killed the Electric Car?” have led me down new paths of thought. Weirdly, two other documentaries have stayed with me: “Mule Skinner Blues,” and “All We Are Saying.”

            “Mule Skinner Blues,” is the story of a group of people living in a Northern Florida trailer park working together to make a horror film; kind of “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” except with vengeance and blues/hard rock. I don’t know what struck me about the film, except that a group of people pooled their resources together, got past their tendencies (a few had been heavy alcoholics) and made something they were proud of. In a world where the tendencies lean toward watching the destruction of others, it’s good to gain perspective of success, even if it’s on a different level.

            “All We Are Saying,” is a documentary hosted by Patricia Arquette as she interviews several musicians about their feelings on music, music as art, etc. Sting, Stevie Nicks, Sheryl Crow, Shelby Lynne, Willie Nelson, Will.I.am (Black-Eyed Peas), Patti Smyth (sp?), etc. all weigh in. Being a big music fan, what they had to say made a lot of sense and the one thing that stuck with me was Sting talking about being in his late-twenties/early-thirties and the whole “being brooding and depressing” for the sake of his art. To paraphrase, he felt that in that time period it was –required- to appear or feel that way in order to create what he created.

            The reason this has stuck with me is the sheer principal of being that age (30) and being the “no one understands me” artist. Is it clichéd? Is it the archetype or the stereotype? Are we all as artists becoming too self-centered? Are we resting on the laurels of the past and using them to pave way into a recycling future? But, back to me. It’s not just about wearing dark clothing or vintage. It’s not about NPR and indie music. Or is this all a natural stage in being an artist? Is this what we have to go through? I ask this because the things I see, no one else seems to see. Whereas I can imagine a surreal world, a conspiracy theory, etc. I’m sometimes left to wonder why others can’t or won’t.

            Point of clarity: are the events and feelings that we go through, for those in print, music, movies, or any form of art –are these things predestined? Is there a timeline imprint for my biorhythm that would be different if I wasn’t trying to be a filmmaker/screenwriter/writer? I know part of it is my depression, which hurts me most when it makes me veer from my laptop and NOT write or do something. Is the depression a necessary requirement for art? Things that I ponder…

            Lastly, something else that stuck was one of the biggest issues that we as artists have: art from experience. For example, some screenwriters write from things they have experienced and some write their favorite things from other movies. I am all for writing from one’s own perspective and experience. The difficulty of this is that we are living in a society that franchise chains us down and has bought us from the moment of birth. “Get me some Cheerios for breakfast and remember to pay my All-State Insurance. I’m going to a luncheon at Buckhead’s. For dinner I’ll pick up the pizza from Papa John’s and rent some movies from Blockbuster.” Most people on whole share this experience.

            Again, it’s difficult to gain experience. It’s true that the crop of twenty-somethings entering La-La Land want to make movies based on the ones that they’ve seen; it’s happened that way for every generation I know of (except for maybe the Lumiere bros.) The problem is that instead of infusing the bits of life that we encounter, that we live, we pacify our work with whatever it takes to make a buck and that in turn is how we live our lives. I my lifetime I have became an Eagle Scout, received a Bachelor’s in film, lived in 4 states, and traveled across the country twice in a Mitz Eclipse (I would suggest the travel but not the mode of transportation). Some people have experienced more in life than me, some less. While I cannot say much for the article, nor attest for its author, I did understand them. My art needs life experience as much as the next person. However, I do infuse my work with bits of my personal life.

            Art and the 30-year-old. Maybe I’m getting more mature. Maybe I’m learning. Or maybe, I’m just getting older. I don’t consider the depression as a requirement; in my life, I feel that it’s happenstance. As for writing/film from experience, I’ll do what I can.

“And now for your moment of Zen,”