paint post

i don't assume to know anything. really. at all. so when i hear things about what art is, i get upset. who am i to say, "that cigarette lying in the middle of the gutter isn't art, but a black and white photograph of it is"?

well, danya, there are universal codes of what constitutes as art. there are the basic forms: photography, painting, drawing, dance, sculpture, etc., etc. and to say that every moment of your life has aspects of art in it is... well, a little pretentious.

but what if that's not it at all and nothing is not art? when my friends and i stripped down to our bras, covered ourselves in primary colors and ran around the art gallery in the middle of the night, taking pictures, we weren't thinking of 'art' but we weren't thinking of not making 'art' either.

so, you're saying that it just kind of turned out to be art?

no. that's not it either.

then what is it?

it just is. it is not not art, but it is also not art.

danya, not everything can be shades of gray.

yes, everything can be if we just stop caring about labeling things, you know?

whatever you need to tell yourself.