Blog Posts - ARTIST - Eva Lewarne

We Need Wise Spiritual Guides

12/5/2018

I watched a bit of a Netflix original called "Discovery". It is about a scientist who helps people through machinery to have an experience of life after death, what he calls consciousness that does not die after our bodies do.
So everybody gets a taste of nirvana and what do they do? Immediately want to commit suicide to get there.
That is the problem with scientists they have great analytical skills but no wisdom. He figured people want happiness and he would show them how to get it.

But if that scientist was a religious person with true experience of the mystical he would know that suicide might get you to a totally different place than he imagined...there are ethical and moral issues and also the issue of meaning in life. Why are we here suffering. He did not bother to think of that.

Obviously we are not meant to be just happy in this lifetime, we are meant to learn and grow and through time if we successfully accomplish our life goals we will be awarded with afterlife bliss.

We can not only rely on science, we need to also have spiritual values and as it turns out we need some kind of guidance from people in the know, wise mystical people.

I watched a video by Lady Gaga who supposedly sat next to the Dalai Lama, without allowing him to speak, and espoused simplistic cliche about life. Amazing what an ego these hollywood types have. If she was in the least bit aware, she would have been awed by his presence and engaged this brilliant and holy man (yes, holy, because he did the work that got him there) in answering life's questions. What has she accomplished in her entertainers life besides taking off her clothes? Not much I would think...but she sees herself as a saviour of humanities soul...hahahahaha
Unfortunately science and hollywood are not enough to guide us to the next level of existence...we need real guides.

Toronto Art Now

11/8/2018

I have been to a few art shows in Toronto, not many...but I must say that beside Rebecca Belmore's at AGO and Edward Burtynky's I have seen nothing but milk-toast. It seems that artists here feel guilty if their painting actually has some quality of a good painting in terms of succulent paint, great colours something to communicate. They take special pains to show the viewer that he/she was not really trying to paint. It is a kind of jaded approach to art. The Gladstone show had a title for it, "Why the F*ck Do I Paint"...and honestly after seeing maybe a couple of reasonably painted works I honestly can answer that I don't know why they bother..

And yet I am pretty sure if they put some enthusiasm and life into their work, and lost the cynical attitude, they would probably all be pretty good artists.

FLOWER CHILDREN

11/6/2018

WE HAVE ACTUALLY COME NOT VERY FAR FROM BEING CAVE-MEN DESPITE ALL THE MARVELS OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY!

WE THE FLOWER CHILDREN OF THE SIXTIES, THE ONES WHO TALKED A LOT ABOUT LOVE NOT WAR, WHAT DID WE REALLY MEAN? DID WE REALLY MEAN LOVE AS IN COMPASSION OR SEX AND ORGIES? WE TAUGHT OUR CHILDREN TO RAPE AND PILLAGE THE EARTH. WE TAUGHT THAT ME COMES FIRST COUNTRY, COMMUNITY LAST. WE CREATED THE CAPITALISTIC SELF-ABSORBED FREEDOM-LOVING MESS THAT EXISTS. WE USED FREEDOM TO MEAN DO WHAT YOU LIKE, VOMIT WHERE YOU WILL WITH NO REGARD FOR THE OTHER! AND IF NO ONE FINDS OUT, CHEAT, ALL IS FAIR IN LOVE AND WAR. MORALITY WAS THROWN OUT THE WINDOW IN THE NAME OF FREEDOM. AND OUR WORLD NOW SHOWS WHERE THAT PHILOSOPHY LEADS. TO CHAOS DEVASTATION, EXPLOITATION, LACK OF RESPECT, LACK OF COMMUNITY, COUNTRY, LACK OF RULES IN ANY PROFESSION, ESPECIALLY ART, IT IS ALL JUST A BIG GAME WHERE THE WINNER TAKES ALL!

EVEN IF WE WERE NOW TO SURVIVE THE DEVASTATION OF NATURE, WITHOUT ACHIEVING BACKBONE AND MORALS AND RULES TO LIVE BY, WE WON'T SURVIVE. THINKING YOU ARE A SPIRITUAL PERSON ON YOUR OWN WON'T HELP, UNLESS WE ARE WILLING TO CURTAIL OUR INDIVIDUAL FREEDOMS FOR THE GREATER GOOD.

Existentialism and Eastern Philosophy

11/2/2018

It is always interesting to me how the West can misquote and misinterpret some of Eastern teachings.

Existentialism as interpreted by Camus and especially Nietzsche unfortunately has led to some seriously arrogant egomaniacs like Hitler who believed that he was Superman...taken from Nietzsche, who took the term of superman from Indian philosophy while removing the cosmic aspect of it, implying we are all gods and can do what we like.

Indian philosophy says that if god is in us we can only access him/her by acting like the goodness he/she is.

We are responsible for our actions says Camus. There is only death, the abyss so do what we like. Don't bother looking for meaning of life as there isn't any. This thinking leads either to amassing money (why not) or suicide by folks who can not come to terms with impermanence of life and see no point in it.

In Indian philosophy we are a drop in the ocean...and there is an ocean of light, radiance and so on that we also need to be accountable to. We can call it God or Universe or whatever but it is the realization that we are here on earth to grow and learn and the meaning can be experienced through various methods such as meditation...Life is MUCH larger than man...

Kierkegaard was a theologian who had an experience back than and could say, sometimes you just need a leap of faith,when you reach the abyss, if you are not capable of experiencing. The intellect is not cut out for this kind of understanding.

HOW TO KILL ART IN CANADA?

10/4/2018

Make a new New Cultural Policy for the Arts that is called “Creative Canada”.
According to “The Walrus”, Jan. 30 2018, “Creative Canada promises nothing short of
an epochal “transformation in how we view culture and creativity.” The stakes are
indeed enormous: the resulting policy will influence how Canadians get our information,
determine the fate of the nation’s most important cultural institutions, and shape the
contours of the Canadian imagination for decades to come. What Minister Joly has
delivered, however, is a paean to Silicon Valley, a gift to American technology firms, and
a vision of Canadian culture as governed by web analytics and productivity tools.
Creative Canada is all media and no message, a cultural policy that reflects little of
Canada and none of our culture.”

In other words Creative Canada is turning artists into into tech entrepreneurs is a
triumph of Silicon Valley values, with all media and no substance!
There is no value in being an inspired, original artist any more except in the service of
the marketplace according to Creative Canada Plan.

Margaret Atwood's book, “ Handmaiden's Tale" prophesizes the future. That is the real
role of an artist. According to this new Creative Canada policy a book like that would be
of no value to their plan of being an innovative tech entrepreneur developing business
or technology. This plan is the death of art in Canada!
All that tax money you throw at these so called artists is going to a bunch of charlatans
who are sociopathic enough make it look like they are doing art while developing
communities and business and technology.

Art can inspire, beautify, make you aware of your sensual and spiritual nature, of the
meaning of life, but not become engineers or business tycoons. Art is needed in our life
to uplift us from the mundane, not wallow in it.

Van Gogh created such amazing beauty that scientists are now saying his brushstrokes
are an exact reflection of fractals in nature. Do you really think that if he had to develop
technology or do business he would have been able to paint energy and not just surface
nature? He did not sell anything in his life ergo he was also a bad business man,
Because you can’t do both, be a good artist and good business man at the same time, it
is like wanting the light on and off at the same time in a room. Impossible.
The Creative Canada Plan is killing culture in this country not enhancing it. It is only
enhancing commerce and capitalism.

History will be the judge of our art and art world and NOT the marketplace or how well
artists thrive in it! All artists can do is keep their integrity.
As an artist of many years I can tell you right now, that technology will not only NOT
save the world but push it further in the wrong direction, in the direction of robotic living
devoid of humanity and soul, of further exploitation of nature and the death of
compassion and humanity.

History will be the judge of our art and art world and NOT the marketplace or how well
artists thrive in it! All artists can do is keep their integrity.

I think it is time after 35 years to change my game and quit art...

9/22/2018

Queen West Art Crawl is on at Trinity Park today and tomorrow. I remember when it first started years ago, it was a juried exhibition and you had to be a professional artist to get in. It was worth seeing and some people actually sold or found galleries through it. Today anybody if they pay the money can show. So I saw a sign "I love life and colour" and really awful colours thrown on a canvas. I am happy the person loves life and colour but really wish she/he wouldn't call herself/himself an artist.
It seems that communicating anything real in art has gone out the window. It is all about decorating and selling now.

THE EFFECT OF ADS INJECTED INTO SERIOUS ARTICLES ON SOCIAL MEDIA

8/17/2018

I am curious what happens in the long run with young people used to reading articles about human suffering and horrors with half page ads sprawled along the pages touting sex and material goods. Visual statements always have a stronger impact on our brains than words. The ads stop us from having emotions about what we are reading, they interfere with our ability to digest the words and have a reaction. In other words the ads block our emotions to the article!

What do you think will happen to our young people overtime? They will either stop reading the articles so as to not get frustrated or become immune to their feelings. I think this is a big factor in why our society is as apathetic as it is to the suffering of others, to homelessness, to illness, to abuse...especially among our millennials. They prefer instagram to FB now because there is nothing to read there, just fun photos...it is not just a ploy to avoid seeing the suffering of the world but a way to save their humanity.

In the past we read books or newspaper held in our hands and had time to ponder what we were reading, digest it, have an opinion. Put it down and pick it up again, immerse ourselves in the thoughts. Not anymore!
The internet is a tool of Capitalism only now, it has killed our compassion and humanity and brains. Intellectualism is dead. And will totally disappear if people like Doug Ford and Trump have their way.

ART IS WORK = ARTWORK

6/18/2018

There is a lot of talk about how relaxing doing art is; unless the art itself frustrates you...which is most of the time if you are aiming to do something worthwhile...mandala painting is relaxing as is colouring...that is what should be advertised as stress-reducing, not painting. Also the whole of art as a profession is undermined with this kind of PSYCHO-BABBLE! Art is not seen as work but play and therefore does need to be paid.

OUR TIMES

6/8/2018

The other day someone posted a terrible article about Mother Theresa...I got really annoyed and said that unless they were capable of living the way she did they should shut up! We don't even have respect for our saints anymore...she was an incredible woman…

There is something about intelligent, self-sacrificing, compassionate women that brings out the ire in not only men but other women as well not capable of the same…

Instead of being grateful for those who can and are willing to show the way to a better world, people get jealous…because the ego is the evil force that dominates our society now, the shining light of compassion and love is all but a tiny flicker about to be extinguished.

The word LOVE is bandied about a lot instead, even becoming famous in the art world, practically on everyone’s tee-shirt and coffee mug. Once said or printed it is then quickly forgotten.

Has the rise of technology caused us to be so insular, a prototype of the individual focused and glued to his IPhone, feeding the flames of ego uninterrupted by outside influence?

And yet we speak of community often. What does that mean? It means a group of people who are out to get as much as they can for themselves from the others. There is no notion of sharing and caring any longer. There is only a fear that there won’t be enough resources to go around and thereby one needs to compete to get what they can.

Capitalists have eaten everything and everybody including the governments...there are no resources left for them to expand to…and that is what people are sensing but too afraid to say or do anything about. Change is always difficult and scary.

The choice is between perpetuating the myth that the wealthiest capitalists have our best interest at heart or realizing that they are only out for themselves and their everlasting profits while everybody else suffers.

It is time to create social democracy in our country or admit that we don’t give a damn if several hundred children go hungry and die in the streets.

Yesterday we voted for death in Ontario! And if we continue on this road, nature will take care of people’s pain and flick us off the earth like it did the dinosaurs, create an ice-age maybe and a new species will be born.

Humans will be but a bubble in the ocean of either pleasant waters or the fire of lava.

HOW TO KILL ART IN CANADA?

4/29/2018

Make a new New Cultural Policy for the Arts that is called “Creative Canada”.

According to “The Walrus”, Jan. 30 2018, “Creative Canada promises nothing short of an epochal “transformation in how we view culture and creativity.” The stakes are indeed enormous: the resulting policy will influence how Canadians get our information, determine the fate of the nation’s most important cultural institutions, and shape the contours of the Canadian imagination for decades to come. What Minister Joly has delivered, however, is a paean to Silicon Valley, a gift to American technology firms, and a vision of Canadian culture as governed by web analytics and productivity tools. Creative Canada is all media and no message, a cultural policy that reflects little of Canada and none of our culture.”

In other words Creative Canada is turning artists into into tech entrepreneurs is a triumph of Silicon Valley values, with all media and no substance!

There is no value in being an inspired, original artist any more except in the service of the marketplace according to Creative Canada Plan.

Margaret Atwood's book, “ Handmaiden's Tale" prophesizes the future. That is the real role of an artist. According to this new Creative Canada policy a book like that would be of no value to their plan of being an innovative tech entrepreneur developing business or technology. This plan is the death of art in Canada!

All that tax money you throw at these so called artists is going to a bunch of charlatans who are sociopathic enough make it look like they are doing art while developing communities and business and technology.

Art can inspire, beautify, make you aware of your sensual and spiritual nature, of the meaning of life, but not become engineers or business tycoons. Art is needed in our life to uplift us from the mundane, not wallow in it.

Van Gogh created such amazing beauty that scientists are now saying his brushstrokes are an exact reflection of fractals in nature. Do you really think that if he had to develop technology or do business he would have been able to paint energy and not just surface nature? He did not sell anything in his life ergo he was also a bad business man, Because you can’t do both, be a good artist and good business man at the same time, it is like wanting the light on and off at the same time in a room. Impossible.

The Creative Canada Plan is killing culture in this country not enhancing it. It is only enhancing commerce and capitalism.

History will be the judge of our art and art world and NOT the marketplace or how well artists thrive in it! All artists can do is keep their integrity.

As an artist and former psychologist I can tell you right now, that technology will not only NOT save the world but push it further in the wrong direction, in the direction of robotic living devoid of humanity and soul, of further exploitation of nature and the death of compassion and humanity.