Phantom 309
November 30, 2006 | permalink

I bought my first piece of real art this weekend ('real' as in, an original piece, signed by the artist...), and I'm very excited about it. It's something I've thought about a lot; I really like the idea of having art in the house. I have a couple of reproductions of paintings I especially like, of course, and a bunch of my own photography (ranging from snapshots of friends and family to prints that I would say have some small artistic merit) is hanging on the wall. But... maybe it's silly, but this feels different. More satisfying, somehow.

When I saw it, I knew I had to have it. Something about the washed out quality of the color, and the mechanical typewriter, so out of date and out of context lying in the grass captivated me. I guess partly because I learned to type on a very similar machine, which I used to crank out endless reams of bad stories and poetry; but also because part of me has a definite yearning for the past.

Not exactly in the way that is stereotypical of old men, longing for bygone days when everything was better. In general I think progress is a good thing, and I am filled with amazement when I think about the advances in technology and medicine and science that have occurred so far in my lifetime, and I am excited to see what comes next.

What I do wish, though, is that people still spoke with more of the elegance and wit and formality of years past. It just seems so much more refined, and I think that the more complicated language forces one to think more about what they are saying, and what they really mean to say. Even insults sound better. Doesn't 'scandalous cur' invoke so much more animosity than 'son of a bitch'?

I try, in my own poor way, to carry on those rich lingual traditions here, but I am afraid I must admit that I do not do nearly so well a job of it in person. Not that I won't keep trying... maybe I will start a movement.

UPDATE: Here is a link to the artist's site- She Hit Pause Studios.
Posted in Musings & Random & The Home Front
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2 Comments

By Jennifer on November 30, 2006 7:56 PM

I like very much!

By The Ursine Calamity on December 1, 2006 10:46 AM

Thanks! I like it more every time I see it...

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