[ABetterReality]

Hey, I'm writing a paper about American subcultures and I'd appreciate it a lot if you guys could take a few minutes to answer these questions. Take them as seriously or nonchalantly as you like.

1) What is art? Try to dig deep.

2) What role does art play in your life? Think about it. To what extent is art a presence in your daily routine?

3) Would you call yourself an artist? Why? Why not?

4) How has being an artist (or not being an artist) affected your personality as an individual? Has it affected you at all?

5) Would you say that being an artist (or not) affects your role as an American? Where does it fall in the bigger scheme of things?

Thanks

[Impaler]

1) What is art?

Art is when you get an idea that can't be expressed in a purely verbal form. So, you play it on an instrument, paint it on a canvas, dance it out a la Kevin Bacon. Folks who can repeatedly produce art are just an exultantly creative and thoughtful brand of people.

2) What role does art play in your life?

Specifically, art has always been a source of challenge and humility for me. In school, I always mastered the more scholarly doctrines of academia with relative ease. My artistic abilities always remained rough, however, and it stuck out like a sore thumb in my mind.

I don't want to sound too California-riffic, but art has taught me to see things completely differently. I can look at an ugly, disorganized grove of trees or mess of computer cables and still see the inherent beauty. I can also look to art for a daily source of relaxation. If I've had a long day, an hour's worth of photography will always make me feel bettter. Sort of a Zen thing.

3) Would you call yourself an artist?

The title itself isn't really one for which I constantly yearned. I've got too much to learn before I can don my beret.

4) How has being an artist affected your personality?

I'm much less judgmental of how people look. This corresponds with the above statement. Once I learned how to draw a face, or to light it properly when I photograph it, I found that everyone around me had some trait of beauty. Ugly people disappeared.

5) Americana?

Nah, I think my citizenship and my artistic leanings are as mutually exclusive as you can get.
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QED, sort of.