A Call to Arms, 2017. The Conclusion.

The longer it all goes on, all those things that infect us every day, the more I say throw it all out and go make art.

There have been a few of my friends over the last few weeks who have asked me “What is art?” Good question. I really have no specific answer to that. The second question has been what is a “Call to Arms?” Here it is, in a nutshell. A call to arms, at least as far as I know it, is to get up and go. Go arm yourself and fight. I propose that we all arm ourselves with pens and paintbrushes and electric guitars. It’s my desire that everyone gets out of the rut, off the sofa and to the creative space all human beings have in them.

And what is art?

That just may well be the question of the last few weeks. There are all sorts of good answers. There are academic answers. There are esoteric answers. And since I like to oversimplify things, I here is my answer:

Make something, even if it’s dinner. Use space wisely, even if it’s that small area of dirt at the end of your alley. Grow something, even if it’s a flower. Get off the sofa. Know that those things that kill your creativity are all the things someone else tells you that you want. Thwart the system. Give up GMOs. Quit using your car. If you walk somewhere today and eat an organic apple, I bet the notion of making art will make sense to you. Spend your time reading a book, any book. If you commit to all the pages in any given novel that was on your high school recommended reading list, then you will commit to the process of thinking. After that, I’m sure there will be a level of imagination rising in you. Then, perhaps you’ll want to make something.

There a few facets to the way I feel about art and what I think art is. To avoid sounding like a nostalgic old man, let me tell you, I don’t feel like people are any more or less creative now than in the past. I do feel like there are more distractions now. I feel like there are more influences now that are at a detriment to art and the manufacturing thereof. I feel like art is still everywhere, and everywhere it must be. But it’s not the art that I’m demanding in this call to arms. It’s the process of making art.

The process, I think is what will save us. I think the process is what will save us all. Start right now. Go out and make something beautiful, daring, appalling, disgusting. Make film, ceramics, grow Venus fly traps, anything. Just start the process now.