We're all artists!

Cogito ergo sum: "I think, therefore I am" - Rene Descartes 

In my most narcissistic moments I sometimes fancy myself an "artist". This blog is my "art" because it's my creation. Therefore I'm an "artist" because I created it and continue to do so. 

I'm not sanctimonious about it, however; I'm John Cusack in Bullets over Broadway shouting "I'm an artist!" But I am a creator and that, in my mind, gives me a shred of artistic pedigree. To me, that is the essence of art -- the act of creation, the act of making something exist which didn't before and wouldn't have otherwise. Whether it's something we look at or listen to or use (or even, and I'll get to this in a moment, feel), to create anything is to be artistic. 

Full stop ... in my humble, wanna-be-artistic opinion. 

That said, when you see great or moving art, in whatever format, you get overwhelmed by the notion that anything you might create is less than worthy, that so much other art is the work of hacks. And, as a hack myself, you stand in awe.

Right now there's an amazing exhibit in Brooklyn chronicling the work of NYC painters from 1985 to 1995 -- a look back at a time when the city and its social attitudes were changing. It was an era when the city was becoming more tolerant and less affordable. It was an exciting time to be an artist and also a time when they were becoming victims of their own excess. It was a time of community -- and AIDS. It was a time of opportunities and closing doors. It was a time of contradictions. This exhibit captures that mixed-up time lovingly and everyone should see it. You should see what they were creating at the time, fashioning an era that now lives lovingly in many people's memories. 

And people are still creating news things -- and they aren't always things that are visual or audible. Something they are ... tactile. 

Naturally, that gets us to sex. 

On Palm Sunday 2018, we were made familiar with a lady named Stormy Daniels. She is popularly known either a porn star or an adult film actress. Others call her a sex worker. But why not an artist? Everything about her is artistic. Her name is an act of creation -- it's not really Stormy, it's Stephanie Clifford, and for years she's been making adult films to much success. In fact, it led her to have an affair with the current President (and, as we saw from her interview, she's a much more honest, dignified, and decent person than he is). She's an artist, and a damn good one at that, and should be celebrated as such. Yes, her art isn't displayed in museums or in "polite society" but why can't people like her be recognized for the art they create and that, uh ... inspires lots of people? I admire her for that alone!

Yet society says we shouldn't admire her because of what she does -- or that we should condescend to her and call her just a "worker." Certainly, she works (hard, hahaha let's just get that out of the way) but how many people could do what Stormy does as well and as successfully and for as long as she has? She's an artist.

Again -- full Stop. 

Sadly, when it comes to sex, the people who "create" it best are either scorned or sidelined even though we consume their work en masse. But notice how, when you think of Stormy as an artist, it elevates her in your mind? It makes her work into an act of creation, not something nasty. And it gives her dignity, which she deserves. 

Talking about the erotic arts, I was fascinated to read about a mysterious man who apparently gives women great massages that end ... interestingly. Let's just leave it at that. Some might call him half a gigolo or a scummy guy or "whatevs" but, according to these testimonials, he's certainly an artist since he creates something for women that, uh, in many cases, didn't exist before (or for a very long time). That's creation ... in my worthless opinion. 

As a guy with a blog, or even a humble minor "artist", or just a hack, I stand in awe of all these varied, successful creators. And quite often it's the things we create that outlive us and make people remember us.

So I think we should amend Descartes -- "I create, therefore it is -- and I was."