>It's a mistake to think that early humans first grubbed for food and
>shelter, then when they were fed and warm and dry made art. Or that
>so-called badic needs come first, desire second. Early humans danced while
>they stalked their prey; sang when they threshed grain; carved symbols on
>their hoes. We radical economists and other Henwood Raiders try, sometimes
>successfully, to write up our theories in artful ways. And so on -
>Jim O'Connor
>
Wow, we're conflating art with desire, now? I mean the two are inseparable for me -- I'm an artist -- and they overlap, yes, by a wide margin, but they ain't the same thing.
And as for what comes first, the painting or the egg, well, I'd have to say I can't paint on an empty stomach. Well-fed people may disagree... As a matter of fact present-day humans have to have a damn good job or patronage to be able to pay for hundred-dollar brushes, $50/yard canvas and paints at thirty bucks a tube, not to speak of space to work in, heat, water, etc.
The hoe comes first, then the carving on the hoe. And there's an old German tale about carving the bow: gotta watch you stop carving before you weaken the thing.
Art is out of excess. The wonderful thing about art is that it IS out of excess and humans seem to need it still, as though it were not.
Joanna
www.overlookhouse.com