Classical Music is Dead

In reading an article today on the utility of music; I followed a link on one of the comments. The person shared a first name with me.  On the page it said, "Phil is a composer of serious classical music".  Aside from the moment of disentangling my identity from my name in the first moments, my main issue with that statement is the terms used to describe the music.    The Classical era in music is over.  When most people say classical music they are referring to a broad range of "art music" from the last 400 years, but there isn't really a cohesive enough element to these in the same way as other genre.    Now from what I could see through the infuriating web design, this other Phil is stuffy, but nor is he old enough to have lived in the time of Hayden.   If he is writing in that style, he should say so. And while the shorthand might be enough for most, if you want to pigeon hole yourself but then place that into one of many, why not address the issue more broadly.   I would have loved to spend this time actually engaging in the dialogue of Art as political action and not referencing something as a choice, and therefore a reference of it; The limits of expression and all that.  But I felt that first I had to distinguish myself from this other Phil, a composer.    My assertion of identity satiated, on to other things I move.

DULCE ET DECORUM EST

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots 
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.
Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime . . .
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est
Pro patria mori.

Wilfred Owen 1917-18

Never have I gone to war. Though in my youth I had considered it, this bit of writing brings with it such vivid thoughts and feelings that I am compelled to share it here.   

Old Photocopier stuff

In going through some stuff in storage I came across some images I made in Japan. They are highly varied, but I am just posting two right now, since all of the others that I captured came out blurry. my plan is to make high-res scans of them so that I can play with them more easily. The smallest of the images are 8x10 but most of them are 10x14 ish.

Museum #1

3 views of my first museum installation.

New photo series.

Part One.

Part two.

 This series is already further along that shown here.  The purpose of putting this there is to hold myself publicly accountable to doing more work on this series.    

Mission statement.

This is my art blog; in which I will post my art and my ideas about art.  I am currently working on several projects, in music, writing, imagining, and interactive installation.   This will be an online repository for works that I wish to share.  An open and public notebook if you will.This is mainly a works in progress and commentary site. Things I feel don't fit into the context of my other blog.       I hope you will enjoy this, but I feel no pressure here to cater to your desires. Any criticisms, however,  will be taken seriously and I will do my best to address the ideas and interests presented by others in the spirit of open creativity.