Watching the Olympics with the family, I realized how much Olympic ice skating in the 80s and 90s informed my life philosophy.
OH MY!
Do you remember the battle of the Brians?
Do you remember the television commentators TRYING to make it a battle?
Do you remember the Brians refusing to battle each other?
Do you remember that first quad?
One or the other Brian would be asked their strategy for crushing the other Brian. The Brian being interviewed would AGAIN say, I am a better skater for Brian’s presence. We push each other, but I am focused on my routine and doing the best I can do in that moment.
The traditional Grannie philosophy of “Mind your own damn business.”
My take away: Compete WITH not AGAINST!
Surround yourself with excellence. Strive for excellence. Do the best you can on any given day. Somedays you will do less. Some days you will do more. Comparison kills the heart and soul.
And yet….. I too often compare. When I do I cripple my heart and my art. I am thankful for the Winter Olympics coming round every four years to remind me that I compete WITH not against.
For two weeks I settle in at night and watch the Olympic skaters. In the words of each and every Grandpa that ever lived or ever will live, “When I was a kid….it was different.”
And it is different. I don’t care about these athletes. They are not multi-dimensional as presented to us by NBC. This is what I hear when I sit watching and knitting preemie beanies, ” Yadda yadda.. sacrifice…desperation…blah, blah, blah…how bad do you feel? Is your heart broken because you rose to the top of your industry and you ONLY won a silver? Are you DEVASTATED? You SHOULD be devastated because nothing less than gold matters. Your life is ruined, right?
Tell us you are completely destroyed because those of us who have never risked want to be assured that the cost of risking is more than you can bear.
I love it when the athlete responds with incredulity and says, I did my best and it was (or was not) good enough today. I “left it all on the mountain.”
I understand “left it all on the mountain” to be polite winter athlete way of saying, “Give me a break you clueless microphone holder. Peddle your blue journalism elsewhere.”
Ruth thinks pay television has watered down the general enthusiasm and ability to connect with the athletes. Maybe the good interviews, the ones that lead me to care, are reserved for cable/pay viewers. Maybe they withhold the interesting interviews. Maybe the world is a different place. Maybe competing with has gone the way of equal access television and net neutrality.
This is the final week of Centering Abstraction, a four-person show
at Gallery 414 in Fort Worth curated by Barbara Koerble.
It is a lovely show hung by John Hartley, who along with his wife Adele, have been hanging shows at Gallery 414 for TWENTY-TWO years! (An Olympian effort- indeed!)
I have no doubt that each of us, Adam, Lael, Sophia, myself, and our brave curator Barbara, are better persons and artists for having worked together. We put forth our best individual efforts to create a singular show celebrating life, and possibility.
Sunday afternoon, February 25, 2018,
the gallery will open from 12 to 5 p.m. for the closing reception.
At 2 p.m. John Hartley will lead curator and artists in a panel discussion.
IN THEORY, it will live stream on Facebook.
Centering Abstraction may not look like an Olympian effort and that is because it was not.
Sure we have all been bloodied and been bruised creating our art.
Sure we have all sacrificed more lucrative endeavors creating beauty.
Sure we are all passionate about doing something that the majority of the world deems frivolous.
Sure we…..HEY! This sounds like the Olympians being interviewed!
JOIN US for the CLOSING CEREMONIES of the Olympian efforts that is Centering Abstraction.
See you at 414 Tempelton St. in Fort Worth,
or on FB Live at 2 CST Sunday, February 25th, 2018.
Instead of medals and roses, there will be cookies.
Gwen