Saturday, April 10, 2010

rock-and-rollism

Rock and roll doesn’t necessarily mean a band. It doesn’t mean a singer, and it doesn’t mean a lyric, really. It’s that question of trying to be immortal.
— Malcom McLaren

I'm no rocker. This quote appeared in some newsy box on a webpage because MM passed away today. But it echoes what I read in B's.Ts. yesterday, and related to an artist friend who echoed back that most artistic manifestations are sheer narcissism.
"In concluding my present tale about contemporary terrestrial art, I might as well mention yet another of the many specific characteristics of those beings of contemporary civilization who devote themselves to this famous art.

"This specific characteristic of theirs is that whenever one of these beings notices some 'lawful illogicality' in the productions that have come down from ancient times and begins to work in his branch of art in quite a new manner, perhaps in order to make this lawful illogicality clear to himself in practice, most of the beings around him occupied professionally in the same branch at once become his followers and begin doing supposedly the same thing, but of course without either aim or sense.

"And it is owing to this 'specific' characteristic of the psyche of the representatives of contemporary art that, on the one hand, what are called 'new movements in art' are constantly springing up among your favorites, and on the other hand, those movements which were somehow rightly established by preceding generations, even though only after a fashion, are constantly dwindling.
"Although this phenomenon exists among the representatives of all branches of contemporary art, for some reason or other the beings occupied in the branch they call 'painting' are most susceptible to it.

"Hence it is that at the present time there exist among these professionals a great many 'new movements in painting' which have arisen in this way and have nothing in common. These new movements are known there by names such as 'cubism,' 'futurism,' 'synthesism,' 'imagism,' 'impressionism,' 'colorism,' 'formalism,' 'surrealism,' and many of her such names also ending in 'ism.'"

* * *
At this point of Beelzebub's tales, he was given a "Leitoochanbros," that is, a special metal plate on which is recorded the text of an etherogram received from somewhere or other, the addressee having only to hold it to his perceptive hearing organ to hear everything communicated in it. When Beelzebub had in this way heard the contents of the Leitoochanbros handed to him, he turned to his grandson and said, "You see, my boy, what coincidences occur in our Great Universe. The contents of this etherogram concern just your favorites in connection with these terrestrial beings I have just mentioned, that is, ..."