Petty Piper's blog

Art has been in a steady metamorphasis since the turn of the century. Surrealism, cubism, impressionism, and modern-art : these concepts allow very little rendering skill to pass as a profound statement. Abstraction has become more and more of an accepted way of expressing one's creative motivations.

A favorite example of mine is, in the 70's, the city of Los Angles, CA ordered a piece of artwork from one of their citizens. The price of the piece was over $100,000. When it arrived at the museum, directors were given "Instructions of Assembly."  Read More »

Well, there goes one of our only Global North supporters. And I say, good riddance. Maybe it'll convince the current administration that Iraq needs a new plan.

As a briefing for those who don't know, the newly elected Italian Premier Romano Prodi chose to withdraw Italian troops from Iraq. Last Thursday he called the support of America's war, "...a grave error."  Read More »

A few samples from my collection of quotes. Most of these are post-it-notified to my walls.

"It is good to know that there is something inside us that knows everything." ~Herman Hesse, Demian

"Fame is nothing more than being loved. Fortune in nothing more than what you do." ~Jason Mraz

"Now you see the fleeting vanity of the goods of fortune  Read More »

It's referred to as both street art and grafitti; both beautiful and ugly. And it can go either way. Tags on street corners, dirty saying scrawled onto buildings; true, grafitti will always have it's ugly half. But from the same area comes a great deal of beauty.

Take for example the street artist Miss Van. She began as a young artist in the city, painting simple line-drawings on walls. Over time she improved her skill. And now her paintings are located in museums in Paris.  Read More »

The other day, I heard a very intersting fact. It is said that some voters find it endearing the way that president George Bush is kind of...dumb. That's the best way to put it. He's dumb. I know he spends a lot of time under the scrutiny of the media, and of course he's going to make a mistake here and there--but so many mistakes that we can write volumes of novels consisting of nothing but "Bushisms"? That's dumb, folks.  Read More »

Call me optimistic, pro-drugs, or just dumb, but I'm a hardcore supporter of Huxley's Brave New World. While 1984 was profound and very thoughtful, it provided no neutral character. The Savage in Brave New World was an untrained eye, looking with as much surprise as the rest of us at this strange view of the future. He was the key to understanding the contradictions and confusions of a happy but unethical land. 1984 lacked that key perspective, and tried to make up for it with a lengthy explanation of the state of the world. Not only was it less fun to read, but the lengthy explanation gave away too much. There was little room left to think after hearing all of the philosophy on wars creating economy and the like.  Read More »

Rights.

We've all got 'em.

Well, if you live in America, anyway.

Why is it that people who don't live in America aren't viewed as having the same 'rights'? And why do Americans who commit specific, socially unaccepted actions lose their rights? And besides that, what is a right?

They're big questions. The concept of a 'right' is an abstract one; the idea that a person is endowed with specific things that they are granted in almost any situation. So, what is the average person's rights?  Read More »

The following blurb was brought to you by a heated conversation with a good friend.

In this culture and society, we have a very strange and limited impression of what it is to be an 'artist.' Art is defined as the 'creative process,' or something to that extent. An artist is someone who paints for a living. Or writes for money. Or plays music onstage for an audience. But the philosophy behind art is not so limited. Art is a human manifestation of hard work and emotion, and encapsulates a great deal of different activities and objects.  Read More »