Johnny goes to the library . . . .

My love of books began with a box of crayons. OH! how the black on white needed emphasis! I find my powers of research challenged as literature moves through the digital age. Graduate school presents new information for my enjoyment and consumption. READ ON!!!!!

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Thursday, February 16, 2006

. . . and orders . . . GARCON! SERVICE!!!!

I recently became involved with a listserv, electronic mailing list, if you will, which, unbeknownst to me, are descendants of the old bulletin boards, which I never became involved with because I never had a computer to play with.

Get on a good listserv, and chances are your knowledge will be increased, and you will have a good time doing it. For instance, I wanted to know about the book arts, not to be confused with the black arts, or the lost arts, or Art- you know- down on the corner.
If I may, I would like to take up some time in cyberspace to tell you what they are talking about in Bookartsland. They cant come to a unamimous decision as to what is "ART." Go figure! You may need to crack the door and get a little fresh air in, eh, Mr Hatter?
THE FUTURE OF ART, ANY ART, SEES VIRTUALLY. [BOOKS EVOLVE INTO GENETIC ART IN A MORPH BETWEEN ART, TECHNOLOGY, AND SCIENCE. GENETIC ART ATTEMPTS TO BRING TOGETHER THE FORMS, PROCESSES, AND EFFECTS OF LIFE INTO ART. A-VOLVE DESIGNERS ATTEMPT TO SIMULATE THE PROCESSES OF LIFE: EVOLUTION, BREEDING, AND SELECTION. ART AND SCIENCE MAY BE PARALLEL UNIVERSES, OVERLAPPING AND CONVERGING FROM TIME TO TIME. ART AND SCIENCE MAY BE PARALLEL UNIVERSES, OVERLAPPING AND CONVERGING FROM TIME TO TIME.TRANSGENIC ART SEEKS TO CREATE UNIQUE LIVING CREATURES USING GENETIC ENGINEERING TECHNIQUES, THAT IS, TO TRANSFORM LIFE ITSELF] (GRAU, 2003)
BACK TO THE SUBJECT AT HAND, SYME (2006) SUGGESTS "PERHAPS WE (SOME OF US) ARE IN SOME TRANSITIONAL VORTEX WHERE WE HAVE STARTED TO TAKE REFUGE IN STATES LIKE THE INTERNET . . . SO OUR TERMS LIKE 'BOOKS'AND 'ART' ARE MORPHING. . . .?" WHILE EXCELLENT WEBSITES, SUCH AS WWW.LOSTCRAFTS.COM AND WWW.PHILOBIBLON.COM INFORM US OF OUR PAST WITH EXAMPLES OF BOOK ART OF THE PAST ON THEIR PAGES, TECHNOLOGY, NEEDS, AND NECESSITIES OF MODERN LIFE CONTINUE TO DRAG US INTO THE PRESSURE OF THE PRESENT. ON THE SURFACE "BOOK ARTS" SOUNDS QUITE INNOCUOUS. FROM FORESTS AND FIELDS COME NATURAL ESOURCES, TREATED AND PROCESSED, FOR DISSEMINATION TO THE MASSES, AND FOR THE AESTHETIC BEAUTY OF THE WORKS. BEHOLD- CLASSIC CONFLICT ABOUNDS: gods VS MAN, GOOD VS EVIL, OLD VS NEW, MAN VS MACHINES, CLASSICAL VS ABSTRACT, PRAGMATISTS VS PURISTS. ARTISTS CREATE ART, YET IT DISAPPEARS BEFORE MANY SEE IT. MANY HAVE TAKEN HOLD OF THE ARGUMENT OF WHAT IS ART, IF ONLY FOR ARGUMENT' SAKE. WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOUVE BEEN CREATING? AN ARTIST WHO TELLS YOU THE ONLY TRUE ART FORM READS LIKE A HANDMADE, DECORATED BOOK, SPEAKS FROM A DEEP, DARK HOLE. HIS ART'S DEMISE CALLS UPON ITSELF, COUPLED WITH ALL THE GLUE INHALED OVER THE YEARS- NOT UNLIKE THE MAD HATTER OF OLD.
some scholars of modern civilization decided art began in dirt and on bodies, on cave walls, and then moved onto domiciles and public constructs. to adorn these buildings, framed art filled the walls, and literature of various sorts laid about for digestion. the original instigator decided to put colorful designs onto a book, or perhaps he saw early graffiti on a painting. either way, like the original man, purists suffer at the thought of technologial art. a purist may draw the line of book art/not book art at gutenberg, the beginning of industrialized publishing. from then the purist' agony only deepens. bibles, textbooks, and papers for the masses, the whole mass media thing with television, radio, and computers, may make most people happy, but not the purist. digital art in its many and emerging formats has a beauty all its own. who says computer art on the internet, or even the computer presentation itself, lacks art? the purists do. maybe they argue the quantity of "art" belies the quality of handmade articles. books praise art within their covers, thus taking art' spawn into its covers, creating cyberchildren in the next room. artists try to bring life to lifeless art