the shove doctrine
The following words are written as a brief introduction to the forthcoming manifesto
on what would otherwise be known, to you as the reader of such words, as an art movement.
Let me preface what I am going to write below with this statement:
When discussing any act of art you cannot entirely move away from pretension.
To express anything is to show at least something.
By an artist attempting to show his or her work he or she is in fact saying "here look at this, what do you think of it?"
Because the very reaction to the art is a direct reflection upon the existence of the artist.
An artist is the sum of his or her art.
No more, no less.
Let me rephrase.
An artist begins with inspiration. The art created is witnessed. Those witnesses decide its importance, worth, or stature.
The art's worth, not the artist's.
What they really rate is its communicative connection.
But pretension rears its ugly head when an artist tends to want to be more important than his or her work.
To them, it is not about the art, it is about themselves.
True art does not come about this way, under this practice.
The artist is merely temporal.
A buttefly like pilot.
Even an artist's attempt to explain his or her own art, if so desired, is merely temporal.
But the art he or she creates, well, that can last for eternity.
And at this point do not confuse pretension with instruction.
Pretension only comes into play when an artist thinks he or she has control over what the witnesses think.
And we have already covered that.
So for the art to continue to move throughout this idea of time and remain relevant it must be capable of just one thing:
inspiration.
It must be able to move.
To move someone. To move something.
So we can see we've come back.
So we can see it as a circle of sorts.
So as gravity pulls the earth round we can see inspiration pulling art round.
And as the sun pulls the earth around so does the larger, brighter, or more well known artist pulls the smaller, darker, unknown artist around.
And you find the more you pull, the more others pull.
And the more they push, the more you push.
And then there are those progressives that decide to shove much harder.
To see how fast, how far, or how high this thing can really go?
To see if a conscious perpetual motion can really be attained.
Some say life beyond limits.
Some say enlightenment.
Some say life beyond life.
Some say immortality.
Some say life beyond death.
And some just say "you know, what the hell are we really talking about here anyway?"
The eternal beauty of the art?
The utter truth of the art?
The creative imagination of the art?
The acual reality of the art?
So we must, at this point, rein this rhetoric back in a little bit and simply use the word, art, to keep us moving forward.
And for those of you who are paying attention I just answered that question by brushing it aside.
For the manner by which this motion is achieved is completely open to the artist and open to that inspiration.
This inspiration is now a kind of ambition.
The ambition to move.
For the artist to move the art.
For the art to move the artist.
For the artist to move the audience as a collective witness.
For this witness to move the artist.
And back again.
For this motion takes on all forms, methods, impressions, and directions.
It is not limited to any kind of description or lack of description there of.
Each artist can label it, package it, and sell it for however much they choose to pay the societal rent.
Or they can bury it, be haunted by it, and ultimately share it with no one.
But if the art in question is somehow brought out into the limelight.
The art begins to move.
All on its own.
Without the artist.
Separate from its source.
For artists have movements.
Or more appropriately, mo(ve)ments.
They come, they breathe, they go.
But the essence of the art still stays to remain.
Not in the still sense, but in the vibrational sense.
There is no beginning to its frequency.
There is no end to its aura.
It is very much like illumination.
For there is no limitation on its travel.
And the shove is just another myriad way to describe this process.
For one humble artist to describe his or her process.
The process that may make complete sense to him or her, but remains more or less nonsense to the others.
To attempt to define it within the realm of its humility but not at the expense of its intrinsice merit.
To show this process without pretext so that its aspirations lay open for examination.
To ultimately provide you, the witness, with a key of sorts.
To show you the general vicinity of the door, and then push you, however hard, in its proper direction.
Because if you cannot get inside the art then you cannot fully understand it, and you ultimately cannot move with it.
And if you cannot move with it then how can you move within it?
And if you cannot move within it then how can you ever move without it.
Without something you cannot see, cannot feel, or cannot understand?
And how can you leave the unknown out there all alone?
Or more importantly, how can you move out there all alone on your own?
And not see the collective you came from.
The collective you breathe with.
The collective you'll be going back to.
The home of all homes.
And if you don't push open that door then how will you ever know that you're there?
So.
"What is this shove that which you speak of?"
Specifically, a shove is not a movement.
A movement has an end and a beginning.
A shove, the shove in question, is a progressive manifestation of outward expression towards inward enlightenment.
Like all past revolutionary art movements, the shove has a beginning as well.
It starts with the artist as the creator. It passes through the those fortunate to witness this creation.
And transfers itself through their inspiration, into another form of creation.
This is its art.
And why it is so damn hard to define.
It is the exchange of energy, of spirit, of wanting to say "I am here, please recognize me, for I see you, and isn't this great that we're in this together?" as well.
Where the shove differs from the past plethora of art movements is in the fact that it has no end.
That it is not dependent solely on the individual artists involved.
It is not a period piece.
It is an ellipses ethos.
It is ever inclusive, all organic, completely inexhaustive, yet not summarily definitive.
You cannot put your thumb on it but you can put your thumb out to take it.
It passes through you and your art that inspired mine and my art that hopefully goes on to inspire you.
Whoever you are.
Where ever you may be.
Whatever you may do.
Whenever that is.
Revolutionarily.
Note:
These are not the final statements upon the topic in question.
In fact, there is no such thing as finality regarding this topic.
Because this topic will always change and that is its inherent secret in self sustainment.
For these words are only meant as an insight into the forthcoming manifesto mentioned above.
They were put here to please a friend who was providing web site feedback and uttered the highly usable epitaph:
"No dead ends!"
Transcription to come.