heart & art

[Doreen Peri]

Listen to it here -
>>> If it ain't got passion, if it ain't got heart! <<<
Lrod on bass and piano, my poem, me on vocals
________________

You could study oil painting for decades,
perfect techniques of blends and fades,
be a student instructed personally
by a master as adept as Van Gogh,
work diligently to hone your skills
but have nothing at all to show
but what appears to be
paint-by-numbers
not good enough to sell at K-Mart –
if when you paint, you don't paint
with your heart.

You could push yourself to the max
at the barre, a thousand plies a week
practice jetes across a newly-waxed
sprung floor 12 hours a day and seek
out the most celebrated master classes,
perfect your technique for many years,
but when the curtain goes up and it's time to perform,
the audience will be bored to tears
no matter your poise or costume fashion –
if when you dance, you don't dance
with passion.

If it ain't got passion, if it ain't got heart,
then baby, I'm tellin' ya, it just ain't art.

You could learn the Stanislovsky method,
study under Hoffman, Pacino, Spacey, and Penn,
work with the stars again and again
as they train you in inflections –
you could take the prize from the local summer stock show
for being there at every rehearsal curtain,
but one thing's for sure, one thing's for certain,
when it's time for opening night,
if you want the show to be appealing –
It's a fact, if you want to act,
your performance needs to have feeling!

Whether you speak English, Japanese or French,
whether you live on this side ...or that side of the ocean,
the making of art is all about emotion.

If it ain't got passion, if it ain't got heart,
then baby, I'm tellin' ya, it just ain't art.

[Artguy]

heart? ....or truth????

[Doreen Peri]

Expressing your own truth is important, too, yes!

But ya gotta FEEL it passionately!

I know you know that...'cause you DO!

[Artguy]

Not sure Doreen...I don't feel the rush of emotion when I work...but more intellectually challenged...I have also always maintained that objectivity exists in the making of art and subjectivity in the experiencing of art....Damn, I just get too serious for my own good...

[Doreen Peri]

You feel it. Otherwise, it wouldn't be art. You are a craftsman, yes! But you feel it when you're doing it. You have feelings you want to relay. It takes skill and craftsmanship to get your feelings, your emotions, out there ...... but you feel it. You must. If you didn't, your work would hit me flat and without any way to react to it. Skill and craftsmanship are the method for relaying what you feel about the world and yourself in it.

[WIREMAN]

lettin' it all hang out Doreen style.........

[jimboloco]

Society women relaxing at Schrafft's

if you're gonna err
err on th side of spirit!

gregory d'alessio
drawing teacher
art students' league
nyc

[Doreen Peri]

great painting, jimbo!!

i totally forgot about this piece.

was reminiscing ... here i am again

[westcoast]

i love that pic, jimbo! reminds me of a dinner i had in a San Fran steakhouse where the older women all obviously had the same plastic surgeon; it was really hard to tell them apart. it's a hoot watching pissed socialites.

If it ain't got passion, if it ain't got heart,
then baby, I'm tellin' ya, it just ain't art.

yeah girl! and YOU got it.

~westie