ienjoysoup: Thu 11:05am, April 8, 2010

ienjoysoup: Thu 11:05am, April 8, 2010

Thu 11:05am, April 8, 2010

I have decided that Thursday morning is the day I will force myself to sit down and write something in the blog about the current art I am making.

Currently, I am working on 3 projects. But today I am only going to write about one.

"Ant Get Monkey, Sometime".  This work started with a dysphasic moment on my part while discussing a documentary I saw about cutter ants from Africa. The husband Vincent, my cohort in debauchery, laughed so hard he cried. Then got out his phone and updated his FB status to "Ant Get Monkey, Sometime" and later added, "Monkey Get Ant, Most Time". And there you have it and art concept is born. 

In a very pedestrian way, this concept seems like some light hearted fun. But on deeper inspection, this speaks to the innately aggressive nature of life on earth. If you have read Ian Kellas, Peace For Beginners, he believes that we are the only living beings on earth that kill for no good purpose, like defense or food. Well, since 1984 when his book came out, he's been proven wrong. Dolphins regularly kill seals for kicks, chimps and gorillas have wars, and I am sure that a zoologist could give more examples. Kellas did the rest of it right. He talks about groupism. We all, meaning not just the human animal, but all animal like to group up and "get" the other. It's all very base and primitive.

What of our little battle? "Ant Get Monkey, Sometime.... Monkey Get Ant, Most Time" Who are we siding with? The ant, which signifies the meek and small who use there numbers and collective minds to overcome their nemesis? Humans very often see themselves in this way, for example, the American revolution- the little American colony overthrew the great British Empire. In reality, we are more like monkeys. In fact, I will go so far to say that we actually are monkeys. We group together when we have to for survival or comfort, but most of the time, we metaphorically sit in front of our own little ant hills with a stick trying to get a little protein treat.

But this isn't real life, it's Art. In this conceptual fete, Who is the protagonist? Who is the antagonist? Who do we root for? Or is there some other statement here, is it about the battle, the larger picture? I don't have answers to these questions. Remember, I am the one who made the dysphasic statement, which sort of lets me off the hook for the answers, what with a faulty brain and all. ;)

I wouldn't even touch on the whole idea of the soul, god and the metaphysical ramifications of "Ant Get Monkey, Sometime". That's for another day.