Vincent Van Gogh was born in 1853 and created some of the worlds most beloved art. Don McLean was born in 1945 and became a singer songwriter who produced music which influenced a nation. Lori Lieberman was born in 1951 and came to prominence in the 1970s largely for her song "Killing Me Softly With His Song" which was covered with great success by Roberta Flack in 1973 and Lauryn Hill in 1997, the latter earning a Grammy. What's the point? Stick with me.
Don McLean was influenced as an artist by the works of Van Gogh. His song "Vincent" speaks to the personal connection he felt to the artist. The first verse goes:
"Starry, starry night
Paint your palette blue and grey
Look out on a summer's day
With eyes that know the darkness in my soul
Shadows on the hills
Sketch the trees and the daffodils
Catch the breeze and the winter chills
In colors on the snowy linen land."
Clearly the emotion and beauty in Van Gogh's painting influenced McLean's own work. In the 1970s Lori Lieberman attended a Don McLean concert and was so touched by his words that she was inspired to write "I felt all flushed with fever / Embarrassed by the crowd / I felt he had found my letters / And read each one out loud / I prayed that he would finish / But he just kept right on." which became the basis for "Killing Me Softly." In 1997 as the Fugees topped the charts with their version of "Killing Me Softly" a whole new generation was touched and inspired by the beauty of this song. young people were brought through difficult times by the beautiful voice of Lauryn Hill and the words of Lori Lieberman.
Sometimes a song is the only thing that can bring a person out of a dark depression. Sometimes a piece of art is the one thing that saves a person's life whether it is the painting they can't take their eyes off of, the song they listen to night and day or even the TV show that calms their mind or inspires them. Imagine a young girl who wants to take her own life, but something in that Lauryn Hill song on the radio makes her feel like there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Not only was that girl's life saved by art, but that moment that turned everything around would not have happened without the works of Vincent Van Gogh more than a hundred years prior. It's amazing when we really think about the lasting impact of our actions during and beyond our lifetime. The issue is that our actions are not us and art is not the artist. This brings us to the problem today.
Our Culture can no longer accept the separation of art from artist. Further, those in the public eye are expected to be perfect or their work is rejected. Going back to Vincent Van Gogh, his most famous work was painted from inside an insane asylum. He entered the asylum after chasing a colleague with a razor and then cutting off a piece of his own ear. The man suffered from mental illness and ultimately took his own life. The important point is that while he had demons, his work was able to stand on its own for what it was, but today the same rule does not apply. Those artists found guilty in the court of public opinion or the media's representation of public opinion are banished from society and their work is dismissed as well.
When Roseanne Barr came under fire for her poorly thought out and offensive tweets, her show was not only cancelled at ABC but reruns were pulled from syndication. Everyone suddenly forgot that the original series showed middle class life in a way like never before bringing realism of family experience to American TV's. They forget that Roseanne was groundbreaking in dealing with issues like race, feminism and gay rights. Suddenly a decade of promoting dialogue and opening minds on social issues became less important than an individual tweet. All the good that the show had done, and all the entertainment had to be removed from people's screens because of one comment by one person. This would be like museums removing Van Gogh's paintings because razor violence is "Inconsistent with their values."
It is frightening to live in a time where expression is less valued than obedience and art is held hostage by conformity. Understand that when it comes to who is in control in the United States, it is not the President or the Military, the media is in the driver's seat influencing the direction of our culture and society. When someone else has control over what we are allowed to see, to hear and to possibly be offended by, we are not free. We must be able to experience life and art in all its beauty and ugliness if we are to truly understand ourselves and each other. We cannot be held to only view life through the lens of what media and society tell us we are supposed to see and think. We cannot allow the destruction of expression as a punishment for imperfection, because life is not perfection. Life is a beautiful mess, a hundred mistakes for every success, a million brush strokes blending right and wrong, sour notes in a slightly off key love song. Art reflects life and life reflects art. When one is imprisoned, so is the other.
Don McLean was influenced as an artist by the works of Van Gogh. His song "Vincent" speaks to the personal connection he felt to the artist. The first verse goes:
"Starry, starry night
Paint your palette blue and grey
Look out on a summer's day
With eyes that know the darkness in my soul
Shadows on the hills
Sketch the trees and the daffodils
Catch the breeze and the winter chills
In colors on the snowy linen land."
Clearly the emotion and beauty in Van Gogh's painting influenced McLean's own work. In the 1970s Lori Lieberman attended a Don McLean concert and was so touched by his words that she was inspired to write "I felt all flushed with fever / Embarrassed by the crowd / I felt he had found my letters / And read each one out loud / I prayed that he would finish / But he just kept right on." which became the basis for "Killing Me Softly." In 1997 as the Fugees topped the charts with their version of "Killing Me Softly" a whole new generation was touched and inspired by the beauty of this song. young people were brought through difficult times by the beautiful voice of Lauryn Hill and the words of Lori Lieberman.
Sometimes a song is the only thing that can bring a person out of a dark depression. Sometimes a piece of art is the one thing that saves a person's life whether it is the painting they can't take their eyes off of, the song they listen to night and day or even the TV show that calms their mind or inspires them. Imagine a young girl who wants to take her own life, but something in that Lauryn Hill song on the radio makes her feel like there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Not only was that girl's life saved by art, but that moment that turned everything around would not have happened without the works of Vincent Van Gogh more than a hundred years prior. It's amazing when we really think about the lasting impact of our actions during and beyond our lifetime. The issue is that our actions are not us and art is not the artist. This brings us to the problem today.
A Dangerous Time for Art and Artists
Our Culture can no longer accept the separation of art from artist. Further, those in the public eye are expected to be perfect or their work is rejected. Going back to Vincent Van Gogh, his most famous work was painted from inside an insane asylum. He entered the asylum after chasing a colleague with a razor and then cutting off a piece of his own ear. The man suffered from mental illness and ultimately took his own life. The important point is that while he had demons, his work was able to stand on its own for what it was, but today the same rule does not apply. Those artists found guilty in the court of public opinion or the media's representation of public opinion are banished from society and their work is dismissed as well.
When Roseanne Barr came under fire for her poorly thought out and offensive tweets, her show was not only cancelled at ABC but reruns were pulled from syndication. Everyone suddenly forgot that the original series showed middle class life in a way like never before bringing realism of family experience to American TV's. They forget that Roseanne was groundbreaking in dealing with issues like race, feminism and gay rights. Suddenly a decade of promoting dialogue and opening minds on social issues became less important than an individual tweet. All the good that the show had done, and all the entertainment had to be removed from people's screens because of one comment by one person. This would be like museums removing Van Gogh's paintings because razor violence is "Inconsistent with their values."
It is frightening to live in a time where expression is less valued than obedience and art is held hostage by conformity. Understand that when it comes to who is in control in the United States, it is not the President or the Military, the media is in the driver's seat influencing the direction of our culture and society. When someone else has control over what we are allowed to see, to hear and to possibly be offended by, we are not free. We must be able to experience life and art in all its beauty and ugliness if we are to truly understand ourselves and each other. We cannot be held to only view life through the lens of what media and society tell us we are supposed to see and think. We cannot allow the destruction of expression as a punishment for imperfection, because life is not perfection. Life is a beautiful mess, a hundred mistakes for every success, a million brush strokes blending right and wrong, sour notes in a slightly off key love song. Art reflects life and life reflects art. When one is imprisoned, so is the other.
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