Van Gogh and Horace bring the crazy for 2010
I hate posting the last graf of an article, but once again Adam Gopnik leaves me no choice. From his latest piece, on van Gogh and Gauguin:
It’s true that the moral luck dramatized by modern art involves an uncomfortable element of ethical exhibitionism. We gawk and stare as the painters slice off their ears and down the booze and act like clowns. But we rely on them to make up for our own timidity, on their courage to dignify our caution. We are spectators in the casino, placing bets; that’s the nature of the collaboration that brings us together, and we can sometimes convince ourselves that having looked is the same as having made, and that the stakes are the same for the ironic spectator and the would-be saint. But they’re not. We all make our wagers, and the cumulative lottery builds museums and lecture halls and revisionist biographies. But the artist does more. He bets his life.
The phrase that obviously comes to mind is "carpe diem," but at this point in the year, it's worth going to Horace's hows and whys as well. You can't seize the day like a jerk. Reasons via Wikipedia, with edits:
Don't ask (it's forbidden to know) what end
the gods will grant to me or you, Leuconoe. Don't play with Babylonian
fortune-telling either. It is better to endure whatever will be.
Whether Jupiter has allotted to you many more winters or this final one
which even now wears out the Tyrrhenian sea on the facing cliffs
— be wise, drink your wine, and scale back your long hopes
to a short period. While we speak, envious time will have already fled
Seize the day, trusting as little as possible in the next.
(I seized the day tonight with an Elevation burger. How bout you?)
