Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art

 

Welcome to another Mindful Monday!

It's amazing what you can get done in the middle of nowhere. Bright and early, creativity is working. Today is about aesthetics and the philosophy of art.

There is a philosophy to art. Most people don't see this. Yes, there is a business to art. A lot of people think it's all about the money. But we make things because we want to make things. You need to have the attitude that if you make money with your art, great, but if not, you don't.

A lot of stoicism goes into making art. As an artist, if you're a true artist, you don't care about the money. It's enough to make art to help change the world. People may look at your art or they may not. It's up to them. All you can do is create it. Yes, you can work on the business of letting people know about it, but you can't control if they look at it or not. It's important to have that attitude and mentality.

Aesthetics is defined as the philosophy of art. If you research aesthetics, it deals a lot with beauty, and what is considered beautiful in art. Art is subjective. What is beautiful to one person is not to another. It may be offensive to the other person. You need to be aware of that. Be aware as an artist you can't please everyone. Opinions are like assholes. Everyone's got one.

You must be aware that aesthetics deals with appreciation of things. What is pleasing? What is pretty? What is artistic? What is artistic may not be pretty. There's different ways to look at things.

Question everything. Be fearless. That is a true artist.

Creativity

 

What is creativity?

That's a loaded question. Google defines creativity as 'the use of imagination or original ideas'. If you google the word 'creativity', there's a world of information out there. I love creativity. We're surrounded by it here at the Red Block.

With all of these creative projects to get done, it's hard to get things done. We've been working on things for the last couple of weeks, and for example, this morning there were emails that haven't been responded to for over a week. It's just hard to get things done. But when you're able to focus on 1 thing, it gets done. It's just crazy how that is. But sometimes, you just have to get one thing done at a time.

There's so much to do, though:

This daily routine out here: working on the senior citizen theatre project, reading a chapter from a book each weekday, creative projects Monday-Friday, 2 writing projects each week, and much, much more. This is just an example of the insanity with creativity going on out here. You don't need to be around others to get things done. Sometimes, it helps being in the middle of nowhere. 

It's a wonderful life of creativity going on here right now; but hard to get things done.

Just to let you know, when googling the word 'creativity', this is something that is done a lot. Just googling words helps the imagination. It triggers other things. This is done frequently with words and terms. I love research. This was taught in graduate school, and hasn't left. It's a lifestyle now, just like veganism. As the Founder, my brain is always working. That's the creative artist in me. Most people aren't like that.

But that's just how I roll.

Creativity rocks. Simple as that. 

Working on the Red Block

 It's wonderful getting things done on the Red Block.

Hard to get things done, but you just have to take one thing at a time. When you're trying to get several things done, nothing gets done. But when you're focused on one thing, it's amazing what you can get done. This has been proven over the years with several projects.

But at the same time, when you're the only person getting things done, what options do you have?

It's insane, everything that needs to get done.

This morning, some online projects, and working on the Holly Weird Film Festival, along with Holly Weird on the Road. That's going to be a fun traveling project.

The weekly summer writing project gets done today (something that's done every Wednesday and Thursday this summer).

Cleanup, going through papers, the daily walk, and more. This daily routine in Milford is so much fun.

This month's book to read is the son of Gypsy Rose Lee's book. Reading a chapter a day. That's how several books have been read over these last few years.

So much to do. But living in a world of creativity, and being surrounded by it out in the middle of nowhere is a wonderful thing.

You're as old as you feel. And it's important to always be learning. Whenever you stop learning, that's when you get old.

So much to get done on the Red Block. But one project at a time.

A Day Full of Projects

 

It's been a busy day here on The Red Block! A day full of projects. Here's a short list:

Wrote the weekly summer short play today

Tinkered on the annual film festival

Did a little marketing for the brand new online theatre course

Worked on a little research for marketing with The Red Block. Lots goes on out here daily. Here's a handful of weekday projects:

The new local theatre company

Online store

Theatre online course for the public

Film Festival

There's just so much to get done out here. And it's hard to let the world know what's out here. It's important to create a world of creativity out here in the middle of nowhere, so you can help the world. Especially in these times. 

It's a wonderful thing to be living the change you want to see in the world.

Creativity on the Red Block

 

A lot's going on here at the Red Block!

Projects: a local theatre, film festival, and an online class. 

The online class about theatre is now available: https://www.udemy.com/course/6635027/ 

This is a block in the middle of nowhere that's all about creativity. In a week, there's going to be the 7th year for an alternative film festival in Los Angeles. With the online theatre class just created, it's going to take at least a year to start letting people know something online is available to learn about theatre. It's important for regular people to get an introduction to how theatre is a basic form of communication, and how it is used in everyday life.

Between teaching and having a film festival, it's amazing how linked together film and theatre are. Most people don't see the connection. They think a movie is a movie and a play is a play. Yes, they are, but they're more connected than most people think. How to get people to know about this? It's a lot of work. 

Camus got things right. Just think about philosophy and art. They're so connected.

Getting Ready to Prepare The Red Block

 It's May. Time for a fresh start.

After 40 years in the entertainment business, everything is set up out here in the middle of nowhere. There's a store building full of things to sell online around the world, and it's time to create online entertainment courses.

Time to get started building The Red Block. 

Today's Ontology

 There is nothing quite like being.

To be.

That's as simple as you can put it.

Ontology, for those who don't know, is defined as the science of being. It digs into what's called metaphysics. This is some pretty deep shit. Creating the Red Block, being isolated and changing life for the better, has created a stoic, transcendant, ontology environment out here.

This takes a little explaining. Let's begin with doing a short recap and explanation of today:

Being out here in the middle of nowhere, it's created a creative routine that is easy to follow. It's taken a few years, and has been hard to create, but now, that it's created, it's easy to follow as a routine. The day always begins with social network tasks, then shifts to reading and writing. It would be wonderful if every day could be like today. Today, for some reason, the reading and writing all dealt with philosophy, stoicism, ontology and transcendance.

Right now, the writing project out here is a journal of a summer in Milford, 4 months in isolation after a year of the pandemic, out here in the middle of nowhere. While writing out the daily journal, today, the main subject that stood out was ontology. When writing about the Upanishads, Christian Science and Aesthetics, it was amazing to see how all connected with the subject of Being. To be. There is a word in the Upanishads called 'unmanifest'. That means to be. Christian Science is a religion that is known as the science of being. Ontology is defined as the science of being. Then you have the subject of transcendance.

This month, the book being read and broken down out here is Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. In today's reading, the word 'transcendant' was featured. Looking that word up, it's defined as: Beyond or above the range of normal; surpassing the ordinary; exceptional; exceeding or surpassing beyond usual, ordinary limits. This is some deep shit. To transcend is to do this. That's what being out here on the Red Block is. It's to transcend past the range of normal. By simply being.

There's a great stoic quote by Vietnam veteran James Stockdale: "I am leaving the world of technology and entering the world of Epictetus". Wouldn't it be great if the world was like this? It would be nice. But you have to accept the things you can't control. However, you can accept and live by the things you can control. By reading, writing, creating, and just being, while isolated in the middle of nowhere, it's so important to keep the mind healthy. By doing that, you can surpass the ordinary. 

What a wonderful day.

To just be.