Lionz Pt. 2

Just a glimpse of the Ruas piece that is chilling as my desktop wallpaper.

I Got Yo Lionz

   I think it's important for language-people to be interested in visual art. I think this because a language-person with authority told me it is the right thing to think. For countless (11?) months I've read art magazines and checked out a few artists' websites and tumblrs with an idea in my head that if I exposed myself to enough visual art, I'd eventually find something that really stuck with me. Deep down, not many artists appealed to me. Their work seemed esoteric and melodramatic. Art made me feel dumb and artists made me feel pukey. I'd read the artists' interviews and check out their spreads, thinking I was cool because I was reading an art magazine at a coffee shop with an open notebook next to me (find that muse, son!). But inside I felt like an outsider (dig that pun?). Until today while I was sitting on the toilet reading a probably outdated copy of High Fructose. The work of Joao Ruas completely floored me. It was the first fine art in a long time (ever?) that made me think, "yeah, I can roll with this." At the end of the interview, when asked about how deadlines affect the creative process, Ruas commented, "I don't want to have a deadline... I want to evolve. And you don't have an idea when you will evolve."

   I think this is solid. Time plays such a giant role in our development as creative beings and oftentimes, I don' think it's given the credit it's due. As writers, we're told to "publish, publish, publish," to get this degree and that degree and juggle fourteen projects at once in hopes that one of them will be The One that defines our Voice. But at what point does our evolution as creative beings take priority over our deadlines, our make or break moments, our chance to publish or perish? Ruas' work has inspired me to evolve (just looking at one of his pieces jogs my mind with half a dozen poem ideas). Maybe there is space for us to publish our evolutionary process, and if so, I'm cool with that. But if not, I've still got a lot of growing to do. And I won't set a deadline on that growth.

Peep Joao Ruas' website at :

http://feral-kid.com/

And find your next favorite artist while sitting on the toilet. It'll humble you.