©ollective | The Beat Hotel Revisited
I would like to take this opportunity to personally thank bau for setting me up with this little bit of an artistic community. I’ve always believed that artists should work together and help support each other. The government doesn’t want to help us anymore. Businessmen could care less about art. Schools and parents see art as frivoulous and immature. Artists are all artists have to stand with through the thick and thin.
The American ethic is changing, folks, like it or not. Not since the age of Jefferson (but maybe with FDR) has America as a whole taken up an interest in art. American students would study art in America and abroad, bringing back vast wealths of information and innovation. I feel that one must have an understanding of the arts before all else. After all, creation and appreciation are what really sets us apart from the “lower” animals lifes. Is it any wonder that the people who designed and created the first personal computer were musicians, architects, painters, poets? They had to look into the abstract and theoretical form before they could begin to create applicable designs. How soon people forget...
The United States only cares about competition and capitolism. No one is willing to help another individual for fear of losing out on money, recognition, whatever. Businessmen secretly plot hostile takeovers. Engineers design encryption and password protection for software and hardware. Political leaders mudsling and sell each other out for their own personal gains, forgetting that they serve the people. Even suburbanites spread gossip and try to out-do their neighbors with household gadgets, lawn care, and cars.
Artists, I’ve noticed, are the complete opposite. Artists only care about the creation of their works, of getting their pieces out into the public eye. Most artists I know don’t care about money or royalties or name recognition. Hell, as a rule of thumb, one diesn’t become a recognized artist until one dies. Artists help each other. They share their knowledge and information so that maybe one day, another artist might be able to help them get over a block. Artists are the only sector of society, that I have found, to be unafraid to help fellow artists. They have no paranoia (maybe their own individual paranoia) about others stealing their works. There is no corporate ladder to climb within the art community. Art is so subjective, that it’s almost impossible to tell when one piece is actually “better” than another. Maybe it’s a communal sense of Karma. Maybe it’s because we’ve ignored our parents’ teaching of corporate paranoia. Maybe it’s just that artists have a better work ethic than any other sector of society. Funny, isn’t it, that everyone else calls artists the morally corrupt?
So, with that said, I submit to you (and any other artist you might know) the chance to prove me correct. Collaborate with me as far as any artistic endeavor. I’ll be happy to put words to anything. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), I am a writer. I do not do graphic design. I do not paint. I do not even know how to code HTML very well. But, I enjoy all forms of artistic expression. I’ve done the collaboration thing before; with painters, sculptors, thespians, filmakers; so I know how to adapt to any medium.
If you want to work with me on any project, e-mail me, and we’ll work something out. Here are a few more quick thoughts...
Again, I’d just like to say that I think it’s a great idea for artists to get together over the internet and share ideas, collaborate on works, and teach each other. Hopefully, we’ll see more of that in the days to come. Thank you for visiting, and may you never loose the Muse.
Sincerely,
Eric C. Stepp
©ollective | The Beat Hotel Revisited