A Critique on Technique

If there are no straight lines in nature, and the presence of such harsh fabricated geometry discomforts the very fibres of our being, then what of modern art?

It seems that whatever form – be it music, illustration, language and on, – standards and practices have been getting coded into pretty tight little boxes. There are standard templates of form to choose from and to deviate would be deemed “incorrect” and devalued, all the while craving originality.

When I go to see a Jazz show, I often feel like I’m attending a reenactment of what once was. For me, much of the spirit of Jazz exists in the unexpected notes, the following efforts to incorporate them and the subsequent alteration to the rhythm and melody that they inspire. When the current climate of the scene has it dominated and dictated by music school students who adhere to a format which they collectively have been taught to hold as standard, this spirit is not in the room, it but whisps at the ouija board and flickering lights of it’s memory begging to be let back in. I always felt inadequate as a Jazz performer for not being able to do what the trained musicians do, which are sacred skills I mean in no way to degrade but for how they’ve been contained. I see now that it is because I could not do what they could do that I could do what I do – intuit & express freely in flow with the feeling. The collaboration of these differences, energized by the attention of an audience, make the holy trinity of Jazz – Mind, Body, Spirit. Jazz is, of course, a metaphor for everything else’s.

Far & Wide, anywhere the screen touches, artists are being programmed to operate more like computers, products. Who is in demand and successful is dictated by trends set by algorithms written to make us more consistent, predictable, reliable, symmetrical – user friendly.

Whenever I make any art, I like so many others experience the critic that wants our work to be more indistinguishable from something computer generated. It is with intentional effort, focus and spiritual importance that I celebrate the flaws in my work, this is where the magic really happens. I have to resist and deprogram the part of me that seeks to make a product, and nourish the part of me that lives to create and express and be free.

For me, technique flourishes where it has the opportunity to fail. Our education system has forced us to master memorization and reproduction, but to think, feel, move and create independently is conditioned out. It is in reclaiming these lost Arts, in my opinion, that we will finally find our renaissance.