END OF GAME

 
One of the basic human needs is to be recognized in some way. Artists are no exceptions. Art is one way to gain recognition and leave a legacy. That's what many of us think anyway........but not everyone is creating art to last throughout the ages...like Jimmy Grashow for example. I attended the Napa Valley Film Festival last year and found a whole new perspective about the life of art..........maybe it's not what you create, but it's that what you create needs to complete an entire life cycle. Maybe art creations are not supposed to last. Perhaps art is about the process you go through from the beginning until an end. Or, maybe, the purpose for art is........to amuse, tease, and then fade away. Jimmy is a well known artist who spent many years of his life creating themes of man, nature, and mortality. He is a noted sculptor, woodcut atist, illustrator, and educator. He is also known for spending several years of his life creating a work of cardboard art, "The Cardboard Bernini" only to welcome the day when it would cease to exist. While most artists legacy are the works they leave either intentionally or unintentionally. Jimmy created this installation with the intention of it self destructing He created the corrugated fountain mentioned above and seen below to what I think addressed specifically his theme of mortality. His desire was to have it briefly displayed and then to complete the creative experience by watching it disintegrate. Not what most of the artists from the past wanted to accomplish......the likes of the cave painters, Michelangelo, Rembrandt and so many more.

 

 

 

 

It is unbelievable to see that after a short period of time

His art went from creation to distruction in the outside location pictured above.

I saw the process of decompostion through time lapse photography.

It changed my thoughts about the creative process. Maybe art can be enojoyed moment by moment and that it has a life that evolves over time, and only ends with its complete destruction. Also, perhaps created art does not have to be a static thing that lasts forever.

Jimmy says it best......"For me the fragility and the temporal nature of cardboard really marks my identity. I wish I could believe in forever, but eternity is an illusion"

All Pictures Above Are From The Website Of Jimmy Grashow

 

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