Southwest art

I took this from SK's Journals. He writes, "All art is essentially involved in a dialectical self-contradiction. The truly eternal cannot be painted or drawn or carved in stone, for it is spirit. But neither can the temporal essentially be painted or drawn or carved in stone, for when it is presented in these ways, it is presented eternally; every picture expresses a fixation of that particular moment. If I paint a man who is lifting a spoon to his mouth or blowing his nose, it is immediately eternalized - the man continues to blow his nose this one time as long as the painting endures."

These ancient artists carved in stone what was on their mind and in their hearts at that time.

Dialectical self-contradictions aside, the dancers shown below presented a drama from the old age. In their ancestor's past, dramas and dancing were presented only once per year such as at harvest or the sowing of seed, etc. Now of course you pay for a special performance which is repeated over and over, sometimes daily when there's enough tourists.

In our time the presentation of a dance or drama very frequently illustrates (in contrast to the old days) that basically interest has passed from the poetry to other objects of attention: the staging, the dancers, the haunting music, and finally to the scene painter, the scenery, the seamstress, and so on.

These Zuni girls were happy to have their photo taken after their wonderful performance. I have a much higher regard for artists who go forward by going backward. It's sort of a reproduced retreat and a look at historical themes, already given, so to speak.