What Witty Art takes from philosopher Martha Nussbaum and jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald

"To be a good human being is to have a kind of openness to the world ... it’s based on being more like a plant than like a jewel, something rather fragile, but whose very particular beauty is inseparable from its fragility." - Martha Nussbaum
 
An absolute must read: philosopher Martha Nussbaum on how to live with our human fragility – a truly inspring conversation with Bill Moyers. Click here to read the whole article on what is one of my most welcome sources for mindfeeds: Brainpickings.

The quote above pretty much touches the core of, ultimately, lies at the heart of my art work: living with human fragility. Learning to live with our imperfections rather than with our so-called qualities, and all that other ''human characteristics'' we so arrogantly think sets us apart from or even puts us above any other living species. As if the possesion of a larger brain and thus our ability to reason makes us the one and only surpreme lifeform on planet Earth. Well, personally, I don't think so.

I don't believe we humans are the superior life species on this planet. The most dominating, yes, absolutely but definitely not superior. Far from it, I'd say.

And that is a re-occuring theme in my work, I suppose. Like in the series ''Perfectly Imperfect MisFits'', which I started early 2011 and actually is one of my best-loved and best-selling series to this date. It seems people kinda fall in love with the rather ill-fated yet happily optimistic creatures who play the main lead in this series of drawings, made with pencil and ink. The whole series combined consists of out 30 drawings, some of which sold, others still waiting for a brandnew home.

As you can see, these are just little creatures, caught up in the bigger events of their time, some of them resisting it, others just going along with the flow, wherever that may take them.

After all, "It Ain't What You Do, It's The Way That You Do It'', as the late great Ella Fitzgerald once sang, in her superbly lighthearted, carefree, uplifting interpretation of the legendary classic, originally written by jazz musicians Melvin "Sy" Oliver and James "Trummy" Young. And sometimes, it's just that. No less, no more: ''Take it easy, then your jive will swing''.





The whole concept of human nature and its limited capacities is also notably visible in other works as well, such as ''Limited Human Resources'' (smartphone snapshot below), Egology'' and my interactive art project ''A Great Human''. 

Almost Perfect: ''Perfectly Imperfect MisFits'' are just trying to get by

Time to dedicate a blogpost to my series ''Perfectly Imperfect MisFits'', which I started early 2011. At this moment, the whole series consists of out 30 drawings, some of which sold, others still waiting for a brandnew home. All of them simple black and white drawings, using pencil and ink on paper.

''Perfectly Imperfect MisFits'' actually is one of my best-loved and best-selling series to this date. It seems people kinda fall in love with the rather ill-fated yet happily optimistic creatures who play the main lead in this series of drawings.

As you can see, it's a series about little creatures, caught up by the bigger events of their time. Some of them try to resist, in vain, others just go with the flow and see where the currents take them. Will they wash up on the shore of a deserted island or will the ocean stream take them to their next safe haven, perhaps a place where they can rebuild their lifes? But how do you try and rebuild your life, when you can't take control of it, when other powers are pulling the strings? 

Big questions, to which these little creatures have no real answers. They just get by. And perhaps that is why people are taken in by them so much. Yes, they might be MisFits, yes, they might be far-from-perfect and celebrate their failures rather than their successes, but boy, are they good at it. Almost perfect, I'd say.

Oh, by the way .. : at some computer screens, the images might appear to be a bit ''over-pixeled'' (not sure what the right phrase is, sorry folks). This is certainly on the case with the original images before uploading them. So no idea what happened there. This ''distortion'' only appears the case in Blogger, it doesn't occur when uploading the same low res pics on, for instance, my Facebook page. Weird! 

Will try and figure that out a.s.a.p. In the meantime, if any of my followers have a suggestion, please let me know. Thanks in advance!