Friday, October 29, 2010

Number 3

I have been ask many times throughout the years what inspires me to produce the various forms of art that I am impassioned to create. Well, there are a myriad of inspirations, all of which originate from being human. We all go through life experiencing a multitude of events or, at the very least, observing these events that expose us to pain and pleasure in various degrees and various forms. Not one of us will escape some degree of struggle from the moment of our conception til the moment of our death. I and many people call this 'The Human Condition'.

There are predominantly two areas of our human condition that occupy my thought processes and they alone generate enough inspiration for any artist. They are religion and ethics, and from these two areas spring forth all sorts of pain and suffering, love and hate, pleasure, fear, and freedom and bondage, envy and jealousy. The list can go on and on, so you can imagine the vastness of this landscape of inspiration from which I have at my fingertips to pick.

The mystery in this whole concept of inspiration is that I never know from one moment to the next precisely which of these various possibilities will captivate me, and I truly mean 'captivate me'. The mystery is 'Do I pick the content of the work of art' or 'Does the content of the work pick me'? This sounds philosophical but can I be certain of the truth of the matter? It's somewhat like that age old question, 'Which came first, the chicken or the egg'.

I am not a rocket scientist nor am I an intellectual but I am most definitely a sensitive, feelings kind of guy. My emotions can run wild and sometimes I find difficulty in completely grasping the whole range of, my sometimes, mixed emotions and feelings.

I do however think that I am much like most people but with the one exception, I have a compulsion to transpose my feelings and emotions into a work of art. This I think is one of the things that separates the artist from non-artists. The other is that artist have a passion to master the medium that best suites the particular work of art they have chosen to produce.

There are many people that conceptualize content that if brought to fruition in a well executed form and the appropriate medium it would stand the test of qualifying as a fine art. The artist however is the one who conceptualizes the piece, chooses the medium, designs the content and works out all problems in order to bring this work to fruition.

The content of a work of art is more than merely the items to make up the piece. If people are in the piece, what are they doing, what does their body language suggest, what expressions are on their faces, should they be clothed or naked? There are a multitude of decisions to make and be made without the fear of retribution from your friends, your family or the general public. Art is freedom of expression. It makes no difference how talented an artist is, if he or she does not work with the sense of freedom their work will be dead, it will not stand the test of Fine Arts.

I despise 'Arts and Craft' shows simply because they invariably falsely educate the public by dumping or mixing arts and crafts together. This does grave damage to the fine arts artists. Some people will say that I am a snob for feeling this way, but if you are a hair stylist you would not appreciate being called a barber. A chef would not want to be referred to as a cook. I don't think of this as being snobbish, but it is distinguishing the difference that truly exists.

I can cook a steak but it wont compare to the steak of the chef, and I can cut hair but the hair stylist would maybe tactfully laugh at my work and my client chase me with my scissors!! I believe that it is very important that Arts and Crafts be shown in different venues, and I also believe artists should refuse to exhibit their art alongside of crafts, not out of snobbery but in support of their fellow artists.

Til my next blog have a great day.

Finton

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Number 2

Today I've been placing the right hand of Momo and the left shoe on the older Bill in the 'Monument to Bill Clinton'. I'm sculpting all of the heads, hands and feet of the three statues in fired clay that will complete the Monument. I still must sculpt both feet and shoes of Momo at approximately 15 to 16 yrs. old and young Bill at approximately the age of 12 to 14 yrs. old. I still must sculpt Momo's left hand and both of young Bills hands. I still have much work to do.

I have been talking about sculpting the heads, hands and feet/or shoes of the three figures in this monument to Bill Clinton, so now I'm going to talk a little about the structural frame/armature of the sculpture, the base, and the outer surface that will provide the detail and all that will be visible to the viewer.

The armatures are made up of a series of #3, #4, #5 and #6 steel re-bar which will be similar to our skeletal systems purpose. These armatures are mounted/welded to an 8" wide-flange steel beam base. This base is approximately 4'6" x 4'6" square, and the base alone will weigh approximately 1,800 lbs.

The armatures are then wrapped and fitted or covered with metal-lathing (a wire mesh fabric normally used in stucco work) which I can bend, twist and shape and form in order to obtain the appearance of folds and creases in the slacks and shirts and attire. This mesh then will be covered with a 'compression non-shrink grout' which is a smooth textured, but very hard, when cured, concrete type substance. I will mix small portions at a time and apply it with my hands as though I would smear clay onto the mesh. I will build up this grout to approximately 1 inch thick. At this stage all of the figures will be hollow.

After I shape the outer surface of the figures and the base I will then mix the same grout to a poring consistency and fill all of the figures. This will adhere to the internal walls of the figures and all of the steel re-bar. The complete statue will then need to set and cure for 4 to 6 months before I can seal the concrete and apply the faux bronze painted surface.

Upon completion, I expect the monument to weigh between 6 and 7 thousand lbs. and stand approximately 11 feet tall.

When I finish this monument I have several sculptures in mind just bustin ti get out, and I can't wait.


Finton

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Number 1

Most of my friends and relatives are of the Christian persuasion, some are fanatics while others are less judgmental and then some don't seem to judge at all. Life and people are definitely diverse and colorful, and this diversity and colorfulness is the stuff that makes life interesting and worth being a part of.

The heaven and hell concepts are the issues that religions harp on week after week after week.

They say: Accept Jesus Christ as your personal savior and you will
go to heaven, but if you do not accept Jesus Christ as your
personal savior then you go to hell.

They say that we have a choice but this is not much of a choice. If I do not believe in a religious system this does not mean that I choose to go to hell. How does one choose to believe in something that sounds illogical? You may profess that you believe and go through the motions like your suppose to so that you convince your colleagues, your newly found brothers and sisters in Christ.

I do believe that if one believes that believing in Jesus Christ as your savior, your salvation from hell and ye shall not parish but have everlasting life, then, I think it appropriate to share your belief with others, but keep in mind that your belief is no more than a belief in Santa Clause. Your belief is still only a belief and you have no right to make others feel shallow or stupid or evil that don't share in your beliefs.

I personally find it difficult to believe that a God that could create an entire universe and a multitude of life forms and all of the natural laws that work for our good as long as we use them wisely could not think of a less barbarous way to save the people of the world without arbitrarily choosing a virgin girl to carry His and her child to birth, allowing her to nourish and love and raise this child, and this God knowing all the while that this child's sole purpose is to be brutally beaten and crucified to his death. This all because Adam and Eve ate a forbidden fruit that neither Jesus nor the rest of the entire world had anything to do with.

If this awesome creator said to Adam and Eve that "in the day that ye eat of this fruit ye shall surely die" could this same God not have been powerful enough to have proclaimed that "in the day that ye eat of the fruit of the peach tree ye shall have everlasting life". If this God is all powerful then why must He choose barbarism as the only way to show His love of the world?

There was a time that I believed in that biblical account of the way to salvation from hell but I have come to the point of not believing in a literal burning hell fire. I have a belief in a loving creator that did not create a hell or a Satan nor even evil. This thing people refer to as evil I merely call it 'Invalid Thinking'. The individuals that many people label as evil, I think that they are existing in varying degrees of invalid thinking, and some I think become mentally ill.

I do not believe that man will ever recognize religion for it's limited benefits. There will always be fanatics because there will always be 'Invalid Thinkers'.

Finton

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

I had a short conversation yesterday with a Conway police officer concerning public relations and the image that I believe a great number of police officers project to the public. This projection does not elevate the public's respect for the police but a fear of the police. Is this their goal?

Now I want to be clear, I have a great respect for the duties and responsibilities of police officers and I appreciate the danger that they potentially encounter on a daily bases. I do believe that they should exercise appropriate caution when approaching all strangers and situations that deserve their alertness and full attention, but I strongly believe also that there is no excuse for a police officer to be coy or impersonal with the public with which he is so honorably entrusted and indebted. It is unconscionable for a public servant to project himself better than or above or below the public, be they rich or poor, clean or dirty, young or old or ugly or beautiful. There should always be respect from both the public and the public servant. Respect should be mutual.

I am a conversationalist and I find myself engaged in conversations that very often concern the feelings of animosity and displeasure of their experience with the police. I know some of these stories are exaggerated and/or the real culprit to the unpleasant encounter was instigated by the private citizen himself, not the police officer. I also am aware that some police are as shallow minded as some private citizens and this is a catalyst for disaster.

Where does all of this disrespect originate? I believe it starts with disrespectful parents. Sad isn't it? We can imagine the problems a child taught to be disrespectful will encounter throughout his or her life. It is very difficult to break bad habits so all too often these disrespectful children grow up to be disrespectful parents raising and teaching their children some of the old disrespectful ways, a viscous cycle, and invariably some of these disrespectful children grow up and become our police officers.

We, as parents, need to try to do our part by being respectful to our fellow men and women and try to teach our children to do likewise. The teachers, starting in the kindergarten and the first grade of schools start teaching the principles of common respect and good citizenship. This should continue throughout their entire school years. The simple habit of being respectful with your fellow men, women and children would solve the vast majority of our daily social problems.

The police departments also have a responsible to have a continuing training program to educate and reinforce the importance of the responsibility of the police treating the public with respect.

The police know that they themselves, and their friends and relatives at times violate minor, but important traffic laws. These minor infractions of the laws does not mean that the violator of the law is a bad person nor does it mean the violator should be let off the hook.

My experience with the majority of the police officers with whom I have made efforts to engage in dialogue seem to possess a degree of standoffish demeanor as if I don't deserve their undivided attention, or "How dare I question their authority?' It seems that they assume a posture that 'They are the Law' and 'They are the Enforcer of the Law' and I belong to the class of those that are to obey their laws.

This feeling is somewhat reinforced when a police officer is shown to have violated a citizens rights and the only punishment the officer receives at most is being fired. This firing rather than getting jail time implies to me and many others that this is for the purpose of restoring the image of the department rather than restoring the dignity of the violated victim. If I falsely imprison or detain someone I go to jail but if the police falsely imprison or detains a citizen, at most the guilty officer is fired. He does not go to jail. This is a disparity in the law enforcement process and it erodes the public confidence and trust in our justice system and it further intensifies the public's disrespect of the police.

The questions are, 'Is this an important issue', 'Do the police care', 'Whose to blame', and 'Who does this responsibility fall upon to make better this relationship between the police and the public'? I say all of us.

Sunday, October 3, 2010

I have been thinking about the young man that recently jumped from a bridge committing suicide because two other individuals had captured him on video having sexual relations with another gentleman. The two impostors thought it funny to embarrass these two lovers and so they posted the images on the web
They did succeed in embarrassing at least the one young man so overwhelmingly that he could not bring himself to face society and his friends and family.
I truly pain for this young man, and I pain for the many individuals in our society and in our families and in our circles of friends that live in fear of such humiliation.
The two individuals responsible for putting the images on the web will for the rest of their lives relive this whole event over and over and over. They will never be able to forget it, sweep it under the rug or justify their actions no matter how hard they try. Their actions were unconscionable and there is no justification to be found throughout the universe.
Now I want to address the REAL CULPRIT in this tragedy. The real culprit is RELIGION, RELIGION, RELIGION, RELIGION!!!! I can't shout it loud enough nor enough times.
RELIGION, RELIGION, RELIGION is the MONSTER, MONSTER, MONSTER that preaches the ONE-WAY STREET kind of love, and the rest of the loves are an abomination unto God. This is only one of religions GREAT LIES that has destroyed family ties and friendships, and has brought about much division throughout the world.
I do not claim that all religious teachings are wrong but I do claim that all religions teach an abundance of dogma and they use fear and guilt to keep you in bondage.
RELIGION, RELIGION, RELIGION is the real culprit behind the death of that young man who's life was so tragically lost.
I hope, probably in vane, that preachers across the country and around the world will stop their lies. They should be preaching that all love is good and stop preaching fear, guilt and damnation.

Finton