yesterday I did a short post but promised value in today’s.

the value of this post is up to you, but an honest effort was made on my attempt, and that I can sleep with.

just a couple thoughts for the day:

> “a feature of art is that its primary purpose is in service to its own existence; its purpose is itself.”

if you’re making something with the intent to sell it, that’s not art. that’s a product. even the most beautiful and well-designed products in the world are just that: products.

nothing wrong with this. doesn’t make anything inherently good or bad. I just want to point out that there’s a fundamental categorical difference between Things based on the intention used to create them. a sculpture created with the intent of creating the best version of the sculpture itself is art; a sculpture created with the intent of selling it is not art.

this also isn’t to say that art can’t be sold. it can, and should, and often is. but the purpose of that art piece was not to be a Product, even if commissioned (assuming it’s commissioned from a good artist).

a good approximation to use as scaffolding for what I’m talking about here is Rick Rubin’s general beliefs about the creative process. that being, what you create should be in service to the idea and the art first and foremost, and everything else — including the audience, there preferences, and any potential profits — come after that.

> In the same way that interacting with something changes the way it’s measured — you know, the whole double-slit experiment thing — your inability to sit still and observe the way systems in Your World work change the way you interact with those systems.

some of you are addicted to taking action. you can’t sit still. and it doesn’t matter if the actions are good or bad because you’ll just take more in an attempt to fix it. and you won’t. and you’ll keep burying yourself until you either take a moment to look around or suffocate because you’re too head-down acting on every whim and impulse.