I was invited to the Cannes Film Festival by an actor/director who asked me to produce a painting that would be part of the narrative in a film he is currently producing, directing and acting in. This film was not being showcased at Cannes this year; he was at Cannes to promote (much to my surprise given that I was never told about the premise before accepting the invitation), a short film currently in postproduction about a blind painter; a very funny punch line to those of you who know me, a cosmic inside joke indeed. I would have had to be blind to ignore the absurdity at Cannes.
Let me explain…
The longer I’m on this planet the more I’m finding human beings of becoming…(perhaps they always were “being”)…stranger and stranger. I knew before going to Cannes that I was entering foreign territory. I knew that many of the individuals that attend these types of things are specifically strange and unusual in ways that make me question humanity on an existential level, but I had no idea to what extent.
Disclaimer: I did meet some wonderfully strange and unusual individuals who have that special spark that makes life worth living. Beautiful human-like specimens that follow the beat of their own drum to create art that will potentially change the course of human consciousness. I am very grateful to have had the pleasure of meeting these wonderful people!
Those stories are for a later date because all while meeting these young beautiful talents, I couldn’t help but be blatantly aware of the “big money” circling the festival like vultures waiting for their kill. This particular post is a release, a verbal vomiting of the insane pomposity and entitlement that radiates throughout the streets of Cannes during the festival and possibly beyond, given that that region is known for it’s most lavish visitors all summer long.
And so…I apologize in advance for any offence had and hope to see some silver lining at some point about something!
It all started to hit me on my 4th day at the festival. I was in a strange headspace, after having not slept very much the previous three nights (Sober I should ad. Sobriety is not a popular concept at Cannes). I had lost my headphones, my forearms were burnt, I was loosing my voice, hadn’t shat right since arrival, the waiter was taking forever with my teeny tiny little petite French coffee and the wind was forcefully pushing tables and chairs over like a hurricane was about to erupt. Waves of uncertainty were culminating in my psyche and feelings of confusion as to my personal responsibilities. I couldn’t seem to hold on to my God guidance and it was leaving me in disarray.
Aside from the outlandishness of the festival the political climate in France seems to be at a pivotal stage. After speaking with some locals about the current issues with the French government, finding out that many of the local people feel as though their country is being run by a dictator, I felt lost and helpless and angry and frustrated. No wonder the locals seemed especially grumpy, (even for France) surrounded by pompous assholes who are rude and choosing to ignore what is happening in the world, some of them quite possibly creating the worlds most dire issues.
The “celebrity sensations”, God-like personas and reckless wealth was disgusting. Ugly, short old men walking with young plastic ladies with RBF’s, (they must be androids given their apparent complete lack of human sensibility); older woman frozen and swollen from years of plastic surgeries and Botox and fillers, so many people with their noses so high up in the air you would have thought that there were roses floating above their heads, awe struck average Joe’s desperately waiting for hours; pining to get one look at a celebrity walking the red carpet. The saddest of all the young up and comers who most likely have genuine talent and drive being sucked in to the superficiality of this stupid lifestyle that some old, insecure, fear driven fools invented and proclaimed law; not realizing that life is meant to be lived in freedom and art is meant to awaken consciousness, not buried in anxiety and arrogance.
There is something severely wrong with what humans have deemed important and what humans have chosen to accept as reality – because it is a choice, even though so very many have chosen to ignore that fact.
I’m at a stage in my life where I see more clearly than ever before. Being an artist has always been my solace. To be an artist is to be free, to develop genuine appreciation for the genuine. Everything else that our culture has developed superficially to gain outside sources of worthiness becomes futile. We don’t abide by social structures, not because we want to rebel, rebelling is just the side effect of our inability to live our lives according to ludicrous doctrines that frightened child-like grownups developed in the past.
In our younger years we blindly follow our intuition that will continue to dictate our life’s journey if we embrace it. As we grow and gain experience we delve deeper into consciousness as a means of knowing and embracing self, realizing that it is the only way to truly create great art.
Artists have always been labeled as the unstable ones, but this is a farce, artists are the most stable ones, the most in tune, the most compassionate and the most understanding, the most interested and welcoming. We embrace the world and it’s magnificence because we feel it surging through our bodies and continue to create because of our desire to give thanks to such magnificence. True artists live by the beat of their own hearts, whether they are aware of it or not. That beat is what makes great art great. That beat can’t be faked. That beat strums at a cellular level and whether you believe in frequency or not, it is felt.
We are developing a world that fears feeling; a world that does everything it can to block out that heartbeat and for what? Is fame really so great? Is aging really so horrible? Is money and power your sole defining quality? Are you so frightened and insecure that you go about your days in ego driven desperation, constantly seeking outside sources of validation?
Why?
Wake up!
Live in freedom!
Be a true artist no matter what your craft!
Be the kind of person that you would be proud to know.
Posted on May 24, 2016 Leave a comment