Collage: A Question of Ends / A question of philosophy...and Art

RTomens, 2021

Digital/print/paper collage - postmodernism? I still wonder what it is, sometimes - then again, I'm often wondering what all philosophical terminology means, specifically, you know, actual philosophy because, (oh the irony) to even understand what philosophers have to say about understanding life etc is beyond me and most people but then philosophy often seems to be a matter of talking about philosophers (naturally?) and is therefore as much History as it is philosophy. Postmodernism just is? What? Everything after Modernism, whenever that ended (1930s?). 

No, hold on, take architecture - did anyone describe new tower blocks as 'postmodern'? No. They were Modern. I suspect it was the 80s when postmodernism was talked about. I dunno, but look at most of what was built then and it's damned ugly - why? - because the Modernist urge had died and architects were all in a tiz about what to do so they started cobbling together bits of this and that and thinking that green plastic on buildings was OK. 

What about Art? The 70s? A very...Conceptual era? Because...um...the great movements were over so, er, best talk a lot about Art and make the talk the art as much as the 'things' made to represent that talk, the ideas, the...concepts. Whatever. Anything goes in postmodern art - Free Art! Unshackled from the constraints of the big movements many little movements (non-movements) emerged, resulting in, for instance, a lot of blobby 'sculpture', which became a trend because, as you know, art ideas can be viral - so you go to, say, the student shows at St Martins and see a lot of blobby architecture along with a lot of stuff piled up on the floor. None of which constituted a movement, just a fad.

I don't read Art Theory, just a few selected writings by artists, maybe. I never took to studying as a kid at school and stayed that way. It shows? Oh well. I've known a few scholarly types and to be frank, it seems to be the preserve of the thinkers, not doers (obviously?) - they're so stuffed with knowledge that it negates action because they know too much therefore anything they try to actually make is destroyed by awareness of what they're doing, the historical reference and meaning etc etc etc. Ignorance can be bliss.

I'm fully aware that what I make has obvious historical references and never claim to be Making It New. I don't care. It doesn't matter because I'm not out to win favour with anyone in the Fine Art world. Besides, since when did Vispo become part of that world? Yet, still, it is an artform, a form of art, if not Art(?) 

Yesterday my neighbour and her daughter were watching me type from their balcony on high. In the evening, the woman told me her daughter said she would love to have my typewriter (I was using The Beast at the time). I've since offered to lend her one of my typewriters. I'd like to see what she does on it. It wouldn't be anything like what I create although I could nudge her in the direction of non-writing. So I wonder, if you give a monkey a typewriter will it eventually create Visual Poetry?

TTFN!