I’m not a person who gushes about fads in mainstream culture. I didn’t
fall for the recent passing obsessions with vampires or planking, and songs
like “Call Me Maybe” can really annoy me. However, it’s impossible to be any
kind of artist without dabbling in, or at least, following whatever grabs
society by the throat.
So, if you ask, yes,
I’ve read vampire novels (good vampire novels), attempted planking (fail), and
heard “Call Me Maybe,” hmmm, a couple hundred times (most not by choice … I
think I got the point of the song after the first listen).
Currently, a new “fad”
surfaced in the art world, one that I, as a writer, can fully appreciate:
newspaper poetry. After a friend gave me a link to an online example from
Austin Kleon, I grabbed a sharpie and a copy of The Wall Street Journal. The article I picked was on New York’s
Fashion Week; the sharpie I picked was silver. I was shocked by the creative
process involved and the resulting poem. Weeks later, I did another poem, this
time with a thick pen and an article on the recent album release of a current
pop star. I loved it! Now, I’m hooked.
Here’s four reasons I
decided to fall head over heels for a “fad” and why that “fad” is a keeper:
- It’s true modern art. Newspaper poetry takes away a part of the editing process; it allows you to put a permanent stamp on the poem. Unless you buy a couple dozen newspapers, once you’ve blacked in your poem, you’ve blocked out the possibility of revision. The “errors” you perceive become a part of what the poem is, what it says; they become the art.
- It’s finite. Finite things are beautiful because they are fragile and limited. In an art world where “anything can say anything” and truths and interpretations are unlimited, we’ve been brainwashed to believe that misunderstanding and multiple meanings should be encouraged. Hey, since when does a misunderstanding have immediate, positive results in a relationship? When a person perceives art, he or she enters into a “relationship” with the artist, right?
- It’s resourceful. Now before you label me utilitarian, I’m not saying that art has to be useful to be good or beautiful. Beauty is beyond utility. However, there is something uniquely beautiful about recreation and transformation, and there is beauty in using one art (journalism) to create another art (poetry). It’s a story within a story. Sound like a popular movie?
- It gets in the middle of the creation and perception process. Speaking of Inception, remember when Cobb tells Ariadne that the architect of a dream gets to create and discover the dream simultaneously? I love that! Newspaper poetry puts the artist in a similar position. When I wrote my first newspaper poem, I didn’t sit down, thinking, “I’m going to critique the way we label a person according to the way they dress.” I had no idea! Most artists, in general, have some idea of what they want to create when they start a masterpiece. However, newspaper poetry works within the boundaries of what is already there – an artist often has no idea what will result (or even what they want to result!) when they pick up a newspaper. We, as artists, get to be both an art critic and an artist in the same moment. I get to totally embrace beauty within my double roles. So, pull a newspaper out of the recycling bin and recycle it into art to embellish your life!
