David Rose, artist and author.
By David Rose
“The unexamined life is not worth living.” Socrates
“A wasted youth is better by far than a wise and productive old age.” Jim Steinman
I’m going to have to go with Jim on this one, and yet, as an artist, I do tend to examine my work, and that always leads to examining my life, and that always leads to the same question – “Why am I doing this?”
It’s certainly not for the money. I’ve been making art for 50 years now and never once broke above the poverty line.
Benini, an old Hot Springs artist from the golden age, once explained it. We make art because it’s the hardest thing we can think of to do.
It seems like many people just want to make some money, buy some things, retire, and play golf or whatever. They don’t seem to waste time examining things that don’t relate. I don’t blame them one bit. In fact, I envy them. Thinking hurts. How often have you seen someone massage the bridge of their nose when they are trying to think? They do that to ease the pain.
Constantly examining one’s life is not only a difficult thing to maintain for anybody with an IQ South of Socrates, but also annoying to people around you. I’m sure my friends tire of watching me constantly take my life apart only to put it back together again as if I were Captain Orr in Catch 22 and my life was the fuel valve for the tent’s space heater. Dissecting your life is much like dissecting a frog. Sure, there are things to be learned, but the frog is never better for the experience.
David Rose shows his art at Collective Arts Gallery, upstairs at 620 Central Avenue, in downtown Hot Springs.
