Tuesday 4 July 2017

Art identity & proof of birth


Self-portrait, RTomens, 2017

***********if all property is theft, what is identity & what happens when it's stolen? OK, mine hasn't been stolen but my birth certificate's been lost by the passport office - not 'lost', 'misplaced', since she couldn't bring herself to use the l-word - I considered the options. she informed me they could issue a passport with just 'Robin' on it - eh? - thass what she said. then she said I could wait a couple of weeks, it might turn up. I said I'd wait, calmly placing the phone back and over the next few hours feeling a a creeping depression which, I presume, was caused by this news - that or the fact that I had to put all the shopping away that had been delivered & clean the bathroom..........no, it must have been the birth certificate loss, I don't mind housework, despite the fact it gets in the way of me making art *****

***************'What is the self?' is a philosophical question I rarely ponder, even when proof of my birth disappears, which might cause me to wonder 'Was I ever born?' if not for the fact that I'm here to prove it - the trouble with the passport office is their questioning of my birth in the first place. *
the artist's identity is often called into question; if not her actual existence then the identity she forges for herself through her art, as some tend to do *

* I think, should anyone care to look through, my work would reveal an identity of sorts although 'reading' art is not, in my case anyway, akin to reading handwriting as some claim to be able to do. LJ and I discussed art identity this morning, or rather, the way some artists find a style and stick with it. neither of us do that, although we have preferred styles, you might say. It stirkes us as a trap & worse, sheer laziness. & even worse, what kind of artist gives up exploring, testing new techniques/styles etc? the kind that makes decent money from the one style, presumably. *

* perhaps your art is 'you'. If so, I have proof of my existence, if not my birth.

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