>World Peace and a peaceful piece.

>

As part of the Human Rights anniversary celebrations New Caerleon has a number of builders presenting their pieces, at New Caerleon, of course. One of the pieces I visited last night is by Artiside, and shown above.
It is a strong statement.
Political art, which is what it is intrinsically, makes a statement, expresses a viewpoint…..but….

I have no quarrel with the concept of world peace, as such….like the Sermon on the Mount… theres little to criticise or disagree with…..but……

Well, thats 2 “buts” to start off with…

I really believe that, to engage me as a participant, art has to address the duality of my (human) nature. I am devil and angel. if I am not able to find both these elements in a piece, I am left outside. The trouble with a political piece is that the statement is so dominant that the ensuing debate (in ones self) dominates the experience. So.. I came away with the uneasy feeling that you get when confronted with people who do charity work. There is a paradox in preaching to the converted, and a dodgy feeling of “doing The Good”.

The result of my internal debate goes something like this…. World Peace presupposes that human nature changes completely… that evil is extinguished from our souls…. and that we become emancipated from the struggle of Yin and Yang and become complete. This is Angel status.
So, to be quite honest, I think that sounds terrible, I love the complexes that I live with each day, I love my duality, it is from this dynamic that Art springs like a fresh stream of life-giving water.
I think Angels probably do crap art.

Then….. Aliz.
As I never tire of repeating, Art is a “long, immense and deliberate derangement of the senses”….
That already defines Aliz’s piece as Art, but theres more…
I can enter this piece and experience a child-like wonder, an innocence and peace which is all the more beautiful because it is transitory and in complete opposition to the dreadful deadful facts depicted in Artistides statement. Like a butterfly or nymph, fleetingly I can walk in the land of angels….. knowing I soon will return to the world of torture and child soldiers.

But I return to duality with a feeling of hope… the biggest words for me in this context are the words “in spite of..”

:))