thenationofartists.com

Just stumbled across another Letter from the Editor I penned back in 2007 for Moving Pictures, it's still relevant... right?

Welcome to our ART issue!

One of my favorite “serious” artists, Anselm Kiefer, displayed a determination of spirit that would often result in his original brushstrokes being buried, the life of which was only discoverable by un/intentional scratches or tears that bled through to the circulatory soul of the piece.

Kiefer once said that “art has to take responsibility but it should not give up being art.” When I spoke to Geoffrey Rush, I asked him to weigh in on the question as to what responsibility, if any, actors have to express political opinion. The esteemed actor said that good film, good plays, should provide that opportunity artistically.

Geoffrey Rush reminded me of the power of our medium – and while it is absolutely right for artists, and ANYBODY ELSE, to personally speak out against the wrongs being committed by mankind against all creatures great and small – it is perhaps more pervasively persuasive (regardless of the particular strengths or subtleties of cinematic speech, scenery and subtext) to commit to artistic expression that serves that greater purpose.

In extension of Kiefer’s prose, perhaps “artists have to take responsibility but should not give up being artists.”

It is in the discourse and debate of art that opinions are revealed and formed – on canvas, in stone, on film. And it is in the silence of the cinema, and in the safety of the home theater system, that an artist can make an audience question the thoughts around which action is built.

We have all seen or heard something in a cinema that has left us inspired, incited or in doubt. And it is only when the lights come up that we are left alone and accountable to our friends, our foes and ourselves.

This issue of our magazine seeks to provide you with more of everything than any issue that preceded it – whether you’re an avid fan of film, an art collector, a film festival attendee or a friend, I hope you find something in these pages that provokes you to thought. And whether you thought it was Ed Harris as Jackson Pollock or Jeffrey Wright as Jean Michel Basquiat whose depiction of the artist best captured your imagination, I welcome your words.

[ILLUSTRATION CREDIT: © LUCIA GRANADOS – luciagranados.com]