CULTURE & EVENTS
LIENHARD’S LENS
GRAFFITI BY JOHN LIENHARD
Today, it all began with graffiti. Graffiti is not a nice word. It calls up nasty vandalism. But graffiti has now given birth to lovely wall murals. That reminds us of another disruptive activity: namely invention. The ancient Greeks saw invention as a kind of trickery. The idea that we use machinery to fool nature. Sure, any invention brings revenge effects along with it. But its fruits can be wonderful. Invention and art are both built into our bones – part of who we are. And remember: radically new inventions don’t emerge from corporations, but from the garage. No big company gave us airplanes, automobiles,
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PARAMETERS Spring 2022
radios, computers, or ... hula hoops. Same with any new art form: Art begins with expressive rebellion. And, we’re back to graffiti: People have spilled their anger out on walls since before Pompeii. But anger and protest alone can’t make art – any more than necessity alone can produce invention. Something more has to be there. Both rise from our deep desire to create beauty. Wonderful things emerge when that aesthetic impulse takes over. So: back to graffiti: People – usually people living on the fringes – have begun with protest. But as they wield their cans of spray paint, they create increasing beauty. Protest might remain, but protest mutates into part of the solution. Street Art has become a new way to make a plain world, beautiful.
