Seek The Bigger Canvas

   In the art studio of life, seek the larger canvas. I think the stars may have been speaking to me? ( Is that where horoscopes come from?) It continued on ...using words like plentiful and creativity....I soaked it all in....and thanked whomever wrote this little tidbit.

      Seldom do I check my horoscope, but once in a blue moon came up yesterday. It read,
       Art comes is so many forms, from food, to music, photographs, books, a sunrise, birds chirping, I thought I had seen it all. Not all-all!! but my fair share. Until my buddy introduced me to Mapplethorpe. HBO has a documentary called Mapplethorpe:Look at the Pictures, so I did.
      I had never heard of him, or had I ? He was young and boyish looking, in a relationship with Patti Smith (?)

which is interesting enough. The time period was important to the story, and he used Polaroids, another very strange art form, but I was in. My Perlotta explained to me, that I needed to think outside the box, ( I can do that) and to expect many views of the male penis! ( Is that art?) ( OK! The human body, lets think freely)
   I continued on with my watching of an artist in another world.
I loved it, the story. I find it fascination how people, all people, survive this earthly life. I forever find interest in how the catholic church molds people.( all religions do, but the scars of the catholic church are so rich!)
I love the human body in anatomy class, and  depicted in so much art. However......it can turn to gross in a second. I do not consider bodily function as art, ( remember this is my blog, you may indeed love it!) I am not a fan of pornography, but I have to be honest, I don't know what classifies as that. Maybe, OK, for sure, Mapplethorpe pushed that envelope over that cliff!!! ( The Bigger Canvas!! I am trying!!)
   He did mixed media and interesting things with emulsion!!( that sounds nasty! but its not!), taking the picture off the Polaroid and letting the image float on another piece of material.( you would have to see it!!) ( maybe) He took wonderful floral pictures and had a good eye, truly. His placement of objects and lines, were perfect and new. He wanted to be a Warhol , but his timing was off. I think some of his stuff was better. ( BUT I am not a Warhol fan) He was a gay man, in the aids fever. It took his  life, in its gruesome teeth. I think maybe art had consumed him much earlier. When ambition trumps art, things can go haywire. Dope and the seventies, narcissistic qualities running rampant through his veins, with catholic quilt on your back!
A gay man and a Polaroid camera.

I am glad to have learned about this young man. ( I picture him as young)
He would have made me nervous in his company. He was too raw, and careless, but he was an artist.
      Did he inspire me? Not really, but he made me think. Thinking is also art, or at least food for the artists soul.
   I continued on my research and read Patti Smith's two books, so my canvas grew. I learned so much more, about Robert and she, plus was blown away by her writing skills. Just Kids and M Train. I think she has others. Now she is an artist, creature of mystery and a life lived. ( she still lives, unlike Prince, to which I will never recover!!)
     The HBO show, watch is you are brave and a little off center!. Read her books, if you are curious and love the written word.
     If you love the arts, seek the bigger canvas, in this studio of life.
     The adventure, the journey, miracles, art is all around you. You canvas is huge!!!