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Weaving Meaning

Hillside Spin - digital art - Dan Beck 2007

I thought it was time to bring out another of the tracks from the Red Eye Recordings last spring - the unconscious mind is a fascinating thing.

The original song is called  “Global Warming” - a joke really - cause there really isn’t a whole lot the song has to do with the topic - just “How come we are sitting in the shade?”  - but as I quickly browsed an image file - looking only at titles - no dates - I thought that the above digital painting rather captures the song - not even sure exactly why - but as it turns out - it was created just about the same time as the song was written - I knew without remembering.

Also interesting - was my own personal quote in the article - something I thought about just yesterday out of the blue -

the dots often connect in conjunction with my life - there is always meaning in the timing - things don’t happen at the speed I expect them to - but when they do - it is always amazing how many things fit together to build a richer meaning.

Writing music works in this same way - a song’s lyrics and music develop like these hills - building until the ending kind of folds into the beginning - spinning back upon itself…

Listen or View

• Global Warming - a song about life - these spinning connections - dog/me/past/future/expectations/potential/timing/ - partner having cigarette withdrawals - me needing to withdraw - and played with a flourish - just one guitar and vocals - and an extra pass for backup vocals - Dan Beck 2007 - Alone and Contagious - written during the recording sessions
•  Price of meaning - every bit as ridiculous as the conceptual creation of an artwork and article entitled “Meaning” - because of the comical implications of doing such an internet search - prices for original art prints of the above referenced work of art

Searching Randomly ~ Choosing Meaning

Landscape Art & Abstract Art Galleries - Try them

Is there such a thing as random, I wonder? Without taking the mathematically predictive genus approach, I simply doubt it from my own experience with life.

So here I’ve installed these theoretically random image selectors taking one to any possible page in a gallery. But my thinking is: it still isn’t random… any more than you’re being here reading this right now.

How did you get here? Could you have taken a different path? We make choices but could we truly have made a different choice? As much as I believe in free will, I am not sure.

But my real point was that I have noticed that shuffle play on the CD player tends to play in a significant order. And though it could just be my own ability to imbue meaning - I don’t think randomness or technology is any less affected by the powers of the universe and possibly our own collective desires.

So when I’ve played my own image roulette - apart from being rather fun - I can’t help find meaning in the order.

Perhaps something will strike your fancy.

See Also

• Figures Art Gallery -> Image Roulette
  Remaining gallery with the image chance game
• Randomness - Wikipedia
  Resource for discussion and implications of randomness

Shared Aesthetic, Process, Unique, & Sameness

Meaning - Digital Painting 2006 - Larger Meaning

We hear all the time, you can find anything on the internet.  It amused me one day that I should do a search for meaning on google. Not really expecting to find enlightenment - which I suppose could also be searched for - but curious.

So as I write this and if you eventually find this from such a search - you will find the above painting which I did quickly.

The title is not really suggesting that the work is so profound, but I will offer this. The piece is completely about the process, it is about using motion that is uniquely mine given my physical attributes and limitations. It is about using a language and aesthetic which are completely shared.  It is about the view from my perspective.

We are unique in our bodies and the same in our shared culture and spirit.  Meaning can be found in the differences as well as in the sameness; but if too different or too the same - there is little if any meaning to be found.

See Also

• The Artistry of Traditional African Sculpture
  Discussion of shared aesthetic crossing cultural lines
• Excerpts from Metaphors We Live By
  Shared aesthetic search yielded sayings about love and therefore life