The Death of Art

Okay, this blog is going to be a little different.  This blog is going to be featuring no travel.  I know...it is supposed to be about both art AND travel, and yes I do have a couple of places and galleries I would like to talk about, this topic I choose for today is one that close to me, in a way that I never thought would be since I've never gone through and dealt with these guys personally, minus a few emails.

The state that I live in is Kansas.  Yes, we are right in the middle of the United States, for those of you who do not know, and yes, it has been scientifically proven that the state is flatter than a Pancake.  Har har har.

The reason for my writing today though is because the new governor of this state that just turned 150 years old this year, the HONORABLE Sam Brownback (Yes the same prick who used to be on Capital Hill for too many years) has proposed that the state Government close down the Kansas Arts Commission and cut all state spending on the arts in the state and to turn the KAC in to the non for profit Kansas Arts Foundation.  He is proposing that the state cut funding to save less than $800,000/year in the state budget.

Those who are against this (like myself) have figured that while this might save less than $800,000/year for the budget, which in the grand scheme of things, isn't that much compared to the entire debt that the state of Kansas will be facing in the future, will cost more than $1,000,000 to actually make happen.  So first of all, where is the logic in that?  You are going to be spending more money closing down something than you will be saving by closing it down?  Yes, I know that this those figures are short term and don't reflect the next up coming years, but one would have to go a year and a quarter to start seeing saving on the budget by closing down the Kansas Arts Commission.  By that time, Gov. Brownback's term will be about a third over, before any savings are seen.  Not only that, but by taking the KAC from a government agency and making it Non-for-profit, that will go through and most likely make it uneligable for grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, or at least a vast majority of grants that they are already receiving.

Another thing is that one must look back at history.  If there is any one saying that is true, it is "Learn from your past".  It is very true that everyone should.  And how can one learn from the past on this situation?  It is easy...Look at the past super powers of the world (and I'm not saying that Kansas itself is a super power, but the US is) and their art scene.  Think about Da Vinci, Monet, Manet, Picasso, Pollock, Warhol, Van Gogh, Hugo, Arbus, and other famous artist through out history, and then look where they lived, look to see who was the leader during that time.  Some would be surprised to see that names like Kennedy, Elizabeth, and Napoleon, associated with these names, or that we are talking about times when France ruled the grater part of Europe, or when the United Kingdom was in it's strong hold or when America was at it's most prosperous time.  One wouldn't be amazed then to see that every major power through out the western world has had a very strong art scene, outside of Nazi Germany during World War 2. 

Now history will show that Hitler was a failed water color painter before he became the dictator of Germany and tried to take over the world.  It wasn't until after he rejected as an artist did he flip.  It is said that one reason why he broke down the way that he did was because the rejection board for the art school that he tried to get into, was made up of mostly Jewish Men.  Now I don't know how much truth there is behind this yet, it would explain somethings, and this has been looked into during the research for the documentary The Rape of Europa.  This documentary also goes through and discusses that not only did he ransack ALL of the art galleries of the countries he took over (most of the time this was one of the first things he did after taking control) but also in his new world capital, in the center of the city, was not the capital building itself, but rather an Art Museum.  This building would be filled with art that HE liked...and whatever he didn't like was destroyed or sold very VERY little as "degenerate art". 

Now I'm not comparing Brownback with Hitler at all.  I was giving the above example simply to show that when art is suppressed the powers to be are fucked up, they don't have the best ideas in mind and generally people have a huge regret for following them...or in the vast majority of the world where art is suppressed, you don't remember the ruler or even the civilization at all.  The western powers to be in the past and those who have been considered "progressive" have had a great and amazing art scene.  That is why the United States as a whole is still a great super power.  Hell, one only has to look at the art scene of New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles and Dallas just to see that, but right here, in the heart of the country, we want to go backwards for one reason or another?  Do we really want to be a state that keep the arts in the back, not fund it and keep the state behind those of our other brothers and sisters in the Union. 

Also, I was told at one point in my life, that I personally could become an amazing computer programmer.  I asked why, and then I was asked if I ever learned to read music.  I said yes (I was in band for 13 years), and he said that is why.  In his experience in teaching HTML and programs/code like that that those who have been able to learn to read music have had a better understanding and are able to grasp computer code better than those who haven't learned to read music.  Even if that is true (I'm not saying it isn't, but don't know how truthful that statement actually is or if he was just trying to make me feel special), music is an art form, Theatre is an artform, Dance, creative writing (and this is the state that produced William Allen White and Langston Hughes and housed William S. Burroughs in his later years in life), so we are not just talking about visual art like Painting, photography, sculpture, and so on. 

Now how will this effect me?  Well as a photographer, if I ever needed a grant to help fund a project, where would I turn to?  I would turn to some place like the Kansas Arts Commission for help.  The National Endowment doesn't do grants for individual artist, and the only other one I'd think about going to is the New York Foundation for the Arts is because they have the money...but really, you look locally first right?  But what if the local funding wasn't there...then what?  The reason why Kansas isn't like New York are many, but we don't need to have the arts be one of them.  One can't use the reason "well shit, you're in the Midwest, what do you expect", then I'd say "Well then look at Dallas and Chicago...".  Hell, the world doesn't even know that Kansas City houses one of less than 20 Caravaggio still left.  When the New York art scene does pay any attention to the art scene here, it was on the design on the new Block Building at the Nelson-Atkins Art Museum and didn't pay any attention to the amazing collection that is housed within the two buildings. 

It is sad that we have the chance to be as good as some of these other art cities in the are if only given the chance, but the chance is constantly being taken away by people like Sam Brownback and I know for a fact that this will keep our state further back in the development of future great minds and business in the state.  That is a proven fact shown by other states.