According to the Bible the world is approximately 6,500 years old. And perhaps there is a shred of truth in this oft discredited proposal. Whether man’s origin is crude or divine does not change the fact that our species took a radical step forward with the creation of religion and oral tradition, setting forth a perpetual process of discovery, experimentation and renewal. Allied with this thirst for knowledge and truth, man has accomplished much, from abstract philosophy to groundbreaking medical remedies.

So what a pleasure I found in experiencing Genesis 2009: A Group Art Exhibition Celebrating Beginnings, a collection of works by students at Sarah Lawrence College. Although rarely referring to our biblical or biological beginnings, the venue allowed budding young artists to challenge our conception of the art world and society at large. To much avail the exhibition truly transformed a local arts community and represents the evolutionary beginnings of student led cultural change, the results which few can predict today.

Surrealist photography, conceptual installation and fauvist painting offered the viewer a look at raw artistic expression, uninhibited by the commercial market or brooding art critiques. The viewer senses optimism and humility—bordering on welcomed naïveté—in a world dominated by conformity and risk-aversion.

This is best exemplified by Max Teicher’s The Perfect Post-Modern Figure. The outline of a man is constructed using a various brands as they apply to certain body parts: Marlboro packages neatly outline the lungs, Advil the forehead, and Trojan wrappers the genitals. The piece serves as a reminder of the omnipresence of mass culture in our lives.

Hannah Deutsch’s Chifres de Botanicos is a sardonic uncovering of haute couture. Often the staple of gentrified homes and SOHO fashion boutiques, the animal mount has been transformed into the “twig” mount, asking the viewer to consider the merits of another living object. More importantly she asks the viewer to search for a justification in hanging an animal on the wall, not because of the practice’s barbarity, but because of its absurdity.

Cultural criticism aside, Lauren Miller shockingly portrays the plight of women of the opium trade. In Opium Bride, background has been substituted for gradient to emphasize a weeping teen, a raw poppy plant and a few shiny coins, the objects that dominate society and economics in rural Afghanistan. The interplay of color and subject elicits sympathy, leaving the viewer with a sense of responsibility to act.

And so we stand at a new beginning, for Genesis 2009 not only celebrates artistic debutantes, but also the beginning of a new student initiative that serves to raise our social and cultural consciousness. The young are ambitious, idealistic and experimental, and, if fostered, young artistic expression will exist as a force for positive change. Congratulations to Max Teicher and all that made this endeavor a reality.

But at what cost?

It would be naïve, perhaps intellectually dangerous, to blindly accept such claims. Although the free-market has allowed for great experimentation in art and religion to business and industry, cultural homogenization exists en masse. ‘Products’ are consumed, not music, food or art. And friendship has been replaced by ‘social-networking’, love-making by pornography! We are denying the things that make us so very human to fulfill superficial desires. In an effort to achieve progress, creative destruction is inevitable, and sometimes welcome. But in the Burkian vain, we cannot lose our cultural identities, our individual talents, and our individual interests. We must ever see the world as a child, wide-eyed and curious.

Thus, in an effort to promote curiosity, individuality and creativity next to promoting a culture that embraces the free market and individual responsibility, I have created this blog. Enjoy!

M

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To see a virtuoso and jazz iconoclast like Eric Lewis is a breath of fresh air in a world of bad music and commoditized performers.