Where does the money com e from; when is art art?

28 October

Yet again I’m puzzled because of something on the news today. A 50’ boat is now tied up in the port on Lesbos. It was found with 500 people crammed on board but without anyone to steer or control it. No, the traffickers just packed them in, pointed in the right direction and off it went. But that’s not the puzzle, well, a different puzzle anyway. The reporter said that those on board had paid €2000 each for the trip. Now here’s the puzzle for me; where did they get that €2000, and don’t forget that families were among the passengers too, so the bill would be a lot more than €2000. So where is the money coming from?

Syria and other eastern countries are supposed to be poor, or poverty stricken countries Yet even here in the UK, a supposed rich country, there are a lot of people who could do with €2000 just to live a better life for a short time. And yes, there are a good few who like to have it just to add to their already healthy bank balance. But come on folks, with that amount of cash in their hands, why can’t these so called refugees manage to settle in a country closer to their homes? No, sorry, there’s something seriously wrong here. I wish I knew the answer to it. Whoever does find and answer will make a serious amount of dosh for themselves.

A lot of people collect things. When I was younger I collected stamps, but there was nothing worthwhile among them really. I also had a collection paperback books too, mainly sci-fi and horror and a few war books thrown in. During my OU days I began visiting the cathedrals of England because they fitted in with the period of history that I was studying at the time. I also bought one of their leather book marks. But things have gone from there.   

For some time now when we have on a trip out, whenever we get to somewhere we haven’t been to before, I buy myself one of those pencils that are sold in so many tat shops. I’ve now got quite a few of them. In places where there are a lot of different visitor attractions, each will have its own named pencil. London for example has loads of them. Of course, they will never be used but they do at times bring back some rather nice memories. Nor will they ever be worth a lot of dosh in the future.

Finding somewhere to keep them is not really difficult. At the moment they live in a tin we bought at the Wetlands Trust place in Ulster. There’s a reason for all this folks; some years ago I shall something called, I think, The Peoples Art and Collection Exhibition. It was being held at various local venues throughout the country. One of the displays was a collection of similar pencils mounted on white card in a circle. It was that circle of pencils that got me looking for and buying my lot. I thought this Peoples Art idea was a great, but it didn’t seem to catch on, which was a shame I think.

The whole idea of art is very subjective though isn’t it? I’ve said on here in the past about how we see/view art. Again, this is something I came to, late in life during my OU days. I came to love ART, even if a lot of pretentious crap, rubbish really … 

This is something from Damian Hurst and when he heard that a cleaner had thrown it out he laughed. And yet someone actually bought it!

So what is art? According to one the books I read 20 years ago, an object becomes art when it’s on public display, is claimed to be by the ‘artist’ and finally, when people are talking about it. Now, here’s a question for then?

I sat and wrote my first novel The Mission in rage at the local cops after having a run in over something that happened in town, not something I did I hasten to add. Before long I had a 96k word novel on my hands. The following year I had a go at NANOWRIMO. The idea is to write 50k words during November. I’ve finished it twice now but won’t be taking part this year.

So here’s the question, if Mill on the Floss, the novel I always moan about, is classed as classical art, can my novels also be classed as art, can my writing be classed as modern art? And here’s another one; there are hundreds, perhaps thousands of magazines for sale, full of articles of interest that will appeal to those interested in the subject. I like photography, I think you will know that, but are the articles I read in AP, Digital Camera and Nphoto be classed as art? If not, why not?

And so for toady’s art work (or photo) …

Not sure if I have posted this one before but it is one of my favourite shots. It was taken outside my sister-in-law’s pub using a Minolta 404si on slide film and scanned onto one of my older ‘puters.

Today’s artistic funny comes again for the Sage …

A man once told his son that if he wanted to live a long life the secret was to sprinkle a little gunpowder on his cornflakes every morning.
The son did this religiously, and lived to be 93.
When he died, he left 6 children, 11 grandchildren, 27 great-grandchildren and a 15-foot hole in the wall of the crematorium!!..