diary

my barest soul (episode 2)

1. On art

I want to draw a simple tree. I want to draw a simple landscape. Or paint. To what end? I would be happy if one or two of my drawings or paintings can find their way into one or two pages of an art book (or catalogue). The book might even be collecting dust and untouched for more than a decade on some obscure shelf in an old library. Then hopefully, in some very distant day, someone might pick up the book, flip to that page and go, 'Ah, someone actually did something like this before...'.

And my tree or landscape is nothing earth-shattering. In fact, it must be so simple and commonplace that it is very easy to overlook. One flips the pages so hurriedly without even noticing it. This is what it all amounts to. A musician takes a lifetime to practice an instrument, but we take less than five minutes to listen to it. An artist spends decades on his craft, but we spend less than five minutes on it. Liang Zhu was telling me the other day: the fact that there are four volumes of Li Keran's art books and one book on his art theory in the Jurong Regional Library wouldn't bother anyone in the whole Jurong East estate. But this is what it amounts to.

It is silly to think that because Realism took place in the 19th century, one should stop drawing or painting realistically. Yet, one must think of how to remain new and relevant. Even the Christians say, 'Sing to the Lord a new song.' We are not rehashing old ideas, or old ideals. We need new ways of doing things and looking at things. We need to discover what those who came and went before us have not discovered.

2. On how I lived today

Have I lived today well? No, I don't think so. But we have no time for that. We need to live tomorrow better than today.

posted by sin @ 9:06 PM