A human being can create or perform an item or action, functional or non, and describe both the process and the result as “Art.” With such wide parameters, it would be easy to view “Art” as an “X,” an indefinable value in the equation of our experiences, yet we have developed many tools and expressions to help us bring Art to the other side of the “=” sign for our illumination.
“Art” comes to full fruition when observed, just as a tree falling in the woods makes no impression except on the ground. The most useful way to define “Art” is to gauge the emotional impact on the audience. There is a miracle that occurs when we experience a new piece of art, an instant change of our souls and physical beings towards a deeper inner meaning and celestial place.
There are times when the world can seem an uncontrollable, a monster, a rampaging beast that does what it does without thought or direction. We, as humans, can strive to impact this chaos into order though action and deed…this can often take the form of Art.
But maybe creation isn’t our strong suit. What weapons exist in our arsenal to combat entropy sans creation? By exposing others to the art that has shaped our consciousness, we all enrich and enliven each other’s spirits, and subsequently become closer to each other as a result.
“Magic” is showing someone a believable miracle.
Here’s the part where I become a wizard with the following magic words: “GO READ GROO VS. CONAN and POPEYE.”
GROO vs. CONAN #1, Mark Evanier (W), Sergio Aragones (A), Dark Horse
Groo is a classic, silly comic created by two of comics finer talents, the legendary Sergio Aragones of MAD magazine and the unsung Mark Evanier, hardest working writer in the biz. WHO is Groo? He’s a sword swinging, blood splattered one man army killing his way across an exciting landscape of warriors and scantily clad maidens. YES, that ALSO describes Conan, because Groo IS Conan.
Well, a parody of Conan. The main difference between Conan, the legendary sword swinger of film and story and Groo is that Groo likes Cheese Dip.
If you’ve ever read a Groo comic in your life then you know that THIS is a book to get. If you’ve never read an issue of Groo before then remember the magic words. Go Read Groo Vs. Conan.
And the New Popeye!
Written by former Muppet scribe Roger Langridge, Popeye #1 is going to be a HOOT! Whether we know it or not, we think of Popeye as the Fleischer Brothers interpreted him, a Spinach swilling sailor with a penchant for string-bean bodies. Popeye, as his original cartoonist E.C. Segar created him, was an old, ugly-as-sin sea dog and fearless adventurer who would always play fair.
Much like IDW’s current Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic (Which is great, by the way,) the new Popeye book promises to marry the tropes we love from the cartoon with the soul of the original comic strip. Popeye’s once expansive cast of characters will return, reintroducing us to the Oyle family and the charming denizens of the sea-side world of Thimble Theater.
Art can be a bunch of stuff, the smile on a dead Italian lady, a statue with no arms, or a bunch of drawings of ugly weirdoes punching and swinging swords at each other.
Say it however you like, “Ain’t “art” awesome?”
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More musings from Unkiedev, Earth’s own sidekick, can be read at unkiedev.blogspot.com
