weekly Rworld news

It's hard for me to adhere to a weekly schedule (or any schedule). When I wrote my most recent blog post at https://dotart.blog/rmiddleton I said, “Rob, maybe you should make this your weekly Rworld news post,” and replied, “but it's only been half a week! What if I ever did have subscribers who wanted to hear from me no more than once a week?” Now the weekly post is several days late and though I have ideas — I always have ideas — I do not have the energy to write those. What I am going to do is paste over a series of Mastodon toots I just wrote that I have mixed feelings about (you'll see why). That way I get to let some feelings out somewhere more under the radar than my main social media. So, just to reiterate, when I post more often than weekly it either goes on Mastodon if short @rmiddleton@mastodon.art or it goes on my unscheduled blog @rmiddleton@dotart.blog.

Earlier today someone labeled my views as weird and I said that I agree. There's more to it than that but it's been gnawing at me. I agree that my views are unusual and I have often labeled myself weird, sometimes claiming it's my middle name. That's defensive, similar to queer. I try to take great care with my words and would love to live among others who do also. Carelessness (as I perceive it) is why I do not socialize more. Alternatives to calling what I said weird include: surprising, ahistorical, unsupported, and unusual. The guy did say “weird IMO” so he's simply saying that he disagrees. I have mixed feelings about this post because I'm not trying to start anything; I'm trying to settle my stomach. There are many times when my first reaction to a comment is antagonism. That's wired in me, a white 52 y.o. Gay American rejected at home. I'm happier when I don't accelerate into conflict on social media. I try to “take it.” I could have defended my views more but I do understand the point about art history. I would bet that artists whose work fulfilled a role within a system also made work that was just for them, or they may have felt a conflict between the work that they were permitted to do & work they wanted to do by their own motivation. I'd also make the point that visual art evolving into abstract forms is some proof that as artists became more free their work became more playful. Finally, for my views to evolve beyond prior conventions is nothing new. I feel the same about spirituality and politics. The idea that my understanding of art is out of line with history is unsurprising to me. I believe that I am progressing as much as I am able to within my life. Whether this makes me naive, or delusional, or arrogant, or deranged in the eyes of others is their business — but I would prefer to be spoken to with respect as a lifelong artist who reached my beliefs about art with much time, thought, and care.