@dennisycliu - Tumblr Blog

...What is art not? Well, as I've described it, Art is not about communication. Art is not a way of conveying information. It's a way of understanding information. That is, creating a work of art is a means we have of making sense of the world, focusing to make it clearer, not a way of communicating some understanding of the world we already hold.

James Kochalka (The Cute Manifesto)

#james kochalka #the cute manifesto

“If you don’t know how to die, don’t worry; Nature will tell you what to do on the spot, fully and adequately. She will do this job perfectly for you; don’t bother your head about it.”

One chapter in and I’m already hooked.

#montaigne #sarah bakewell #how to live

“Strictly speaking, we do not make decisions, decisions make us. The proof can be found in the fact that, though life leads us to carry out the most diverse actions one after the other, we do not prelude each one with a period of reflection, evaluation and calculation, and only then declare ourselves able to decide if we will go out to lunch or buy a newspaper...” I loved this book. It was a tedious read, fluctuating between the mundane and the potential for fulfilment.

#jose saramago #all the names

How a place becomes beloved, I do not know But if anything the way you stand so tall and still reassures me that it's possible to fall in love even when you're still finding your way.

#dennisycliu #poetry #fitzroy north #melbourne

This wall makes me think of all those times when I forget what I was thinking about and suddenly the elusive thought becomes the most important thing in the world.

#dennisycliu #poetry #fitzroy north #melbourne

Creating personas is something we do all the time through our various social media feeds, job applications, networking events, parties, meeting new people, etc. Sometimes it's useful to just sit down and write an honest biography about yourself. A bio that has nothing to do with who you think you ought to be or who you think other people might find admirable. A bio that's not trying to sell anything. Just a straightforward answer to the question, 'Who are you?' in this moment. ... I'm a person trying to survive in this life I don't want to fuck things up I hope to learn a few things make some meaningful connections and find some joy all while I continue to change my mind a few times a day (at Brunswick East)

I’ve been confronting my relationship with art with a bit more rigour in the past few months, and one thing that’s been on my mind is how we respond when we’re faced with the reality of our mortality. When someone tells you that you only have X amount of time to live, what thoughts cross your mind? What’s important for you as an artist? For many years, I’ve approached art from the perspective of needing to produce great work so I can leave a legacy. It’s been my greatest fear that I would die with a great song still stuck somewhere ‘in me’ and that it’d never see the light of day. But in the past year, I’ve come around to a different understanding of art. It’s one thing to want to get songs out there in terms of output, but it’s another to realise that the real magic is when you live and die with the spirit of song in you and you inhabit music-making as a state of being. That seems to be much more important to me now than the artefacts that I leave behind. To live and die doing what we love, and to become an example of that, is a legitimate legacy.

When Susan had breast cancer , we heard a lot of lame remarks, but our favorite came from one of Susan's colleagues. She wanted, she needed, to visit Susan after the surgery, but Susan didn't feel like having visitors, and she said so. Her colleague's response? "This isn't just about you."

How not to say the wrong thing

I feel like the principles of this article can also be applied to art.

#latimes #trauma #communication

Daniel Norgren - Are We Running Out of Love?

There’s something very timeless about the way Daniel Norgren emotes when he sings, but then through all of that he pulls out these incredibly contemporary melodies that I can never shake. The rhythm side-step in the chorus of this song feels so right. He’s one of my biggest inspirations.

#daniel norgren #are we running out of love #the green stone #music #dennisycliu

It’s the first day of December and I’m heading into a month of songwriting. With the holiday season upon us (and a lot more time on my hands), now’s a great opportunity to take in new perspectives and inspirations. As Austin Kleon notes, problems of output are problems of input. So here’s something I’m reading right now:

Essays in Love by Alain de Botton

I started this a few days ago, and it’s a lovely read. As Sheila Heti notes it in the introduction, Botton’s protagonist falls in love with Chloe, but he doesn’t allow the reader to fall in love with her, so it feels like we’re walking through a relationship with a sense of clarity that we rarely have when we fall in love. Reading this is therapeutic, like a couples-therapy handbook in story-form.

#alain de botton #essays in love #sheila heti #dennisycliu