Editorial 1.3, March 1999, by Deirdre Helfferich Weird Parallels in Art and Politics I wasn’t the only Esterite at two public forums recently, "Hey, Gary..." (with Gary Wilken, Republican senator) at the Golden Eagle Saloon, and a few days later, the Alaska Design Forum, where the guest speakers were The Art Guys. Both involved a little presentation followed by informal question-and-answer dialogue afterwards. As I was listening to The Art Guys discourse on their Suits project, I became aware of truly weird parallels between the two forums. Weird, and also absurdly funny. A little explanation is appropriate. First: Gary Wilken is, understandably, concerned with the state budget shortfall, and explained to those present a bit about the state’s finances and how the legislature was hoping to deal with the problem. He emphasized that feedback from the public was important, and encouraged suggestions and questions. Everyone at the forum seemed to be in agreement that any solution was going to be painful (income tax, sales tax, Permanent Fund dividend cap, etc.). The oil will run out some day, cautioned Mr. Wilken, and we can’t depend on a nonrenewable resource forever. We have to start looking elsewhere. Good point. Second: The Art Guys are two artists from Houston who have been doing art together for 20 years. And not just any old art: funny art. Conceptual, sculptural, performance art. Ludicrous, wonderful stuff. Some examples: they built a giant sneezing nose, complete with green goo. Sneezed every ten minutes and drew a crowd of delighted onlookers who hung around waiting for it to blow, so to speak. Structures built of unusual materials, tackled somewhat the way an engineer might. Tetrahedrons of aspirin. Pencil balls. Wheels made of suitcases. Little plastic baggies filled with water and river pebbles. These two guys are not your ordinary joes. Except that they are. No hovering aura of angst, no nihilist callousness. And, wonder of wonders, this successful duo (who made the cover of ArtNews not too long ago) STILL worries about where to get funding and how best to economize. No independently wealthy types, these. They rely on their wits and sense of humor to make a living, fortunately for the rest of us. Which brings me back to those weird parallels I was talking about. What, you might ask, would something as oddball as "Hammer Drop" (inspired by the near fatality of one of the team due to the disturbance of a tool atop a ladder) or "1000 Coats of Paint" (which rendered such things as a teddy bear, a telephone, and a 2x4 nigh-on unrecognizable), have to do with the fiscal gap in the Alaskan state budget? Well, for one, they are both equally absurd. Alaska has more resources and megabucks than you can shake a stick at, but the state goes around whistling mournful tunes about poverty and lack of infrastructure, and the legislature croons melodies whose words all rhyme with "cut," "hack," and "slash." Even sillier is the fact that some of the things being whittled out of the budget have direct long-term positive effects on the state’s financial wellbeing and capacity to provide for itself, such as public safety and higher education. That is certainly as absurd, if not as enjoyable, as spheres made out of blue beer bottles. For another, both involve the unexpected. The Art Guys take advantage of anything they can get their hands on, using ideas inspired by odd things such as the dumpster across the street (paint it gold!) or the gum on the sidewalk (a map and mural!). Ubiquitous and cheap, but more important, enterprising, inventive minds can shape it into something truly rewarding. This is true of the state’s financial situa-tion, (which apparently nobody expected even though it was inevitable with an oil-dependent economy) but like the materials used by The Art Guys, it might not be recognized as having rich potential. For yet another, both are concerned with resources. The Art Guys have recognized that good material exists anywhere, whereas we have "a fiscal problem," and blind ourselves to the ocean of opportunity in which we are swimming. And I’m not just talking about the oodles of money floating about in various funds. This state has a lot of people who came here because they could see beyond the horizon, and we should invest in them. We could create a future less dependent on Outside or on non-renewable sources of income if we simply plunked down a little thought and cash in areas that built up our resources, rather than merely using them up. Things such as education (K-PhD), pure research (which pays back indirectly far in excess of its cost), small manufacturing and entrepeneurship (they hire locally, keeping money in-state, and they build up that precious infrastructure we don’t have just yet), and art. Huh? Yes, art. Art, craft, invention. Those things that specifically encourage curiosity, playfulness, and creative thinking. A whole field of endeavor which encourages thinking beyond self-imposed limits. This is probably the strongest argument in favor of the arts (and philosophy, too). We’re talking practical applications, here. We can’t afford pedestrian business-as-usual outlooks: that only gets us pedestrian results. Ordinary thinking doesn’t step outside the current paradigm to find the unorthodox solution. Looking at our state’s situation the way the Art Guys look at things creates choices. An example of this is a fixture in our state finances: the Permanent Fund. It almost didn’t make it through the hoops, but has since become the envy of the rest of the country. Why can’t we take that fixation of Alaska politics, the budget, and turn it into something as practical, creative, and as farseeing as the Permanent Fund turned out to be? We’ve done it before. This is the time to do it again. | ||
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