Beautiful Losers (such an original title, I know haha)

Tonight’s showing of ‘Beautiful Losers’ was a thought provoking experience, to say the least. Going into the showing, I didn’t really have any expectations, but in doing so, I was pleasantly surprised by its message and the depth that was presented by the film. No doubt, freshman year of college has been an enlightening and confusing time in life, and with all the general education and required (art) assignments, I think its easy to get lost in all the new artistic endeavours. With that being said, this film…. grounded me, in a way. It serves as a reaffirmation for my faith in art and all of the freedom that lies in creativity.

The free spirit of art is really captured here: the artists portrayed in the film possess the creativity and curiosity characteristic in children that so many of us lose as we depart from childhood. It demonstrates that imagination is not lost--that it can thrive in the adult world too.

Some of my favorite quotes/paraphrases from the film (but shucks… I didn’t get the names of the speakers):

“There is beauty within imperfection”à we are imperfect beings, it is the flaws that make things interesting and real, which is why I think its important for art to illustrate that as well.

“The dispossessed make art”à There is always some part, within everyone, that feels dispossessed, or… inadequate. It is this inadequacy that creates the need for people to prove and express themselves.

While it is necessary for purity to be maintained in art, it must also be acknowledged that (we) artists live in the reality of an extremely competitive ‘industry.’ If one is to survive in this business world, one must never become a slave to the whims of the industry’s desires, but at the same time, some values must be sacrificed for success. What I mean by that pertains to the precarious balance an artist must walk to remain true to his/her own vision and to become successful. Rose touched on this topic a bit in the question and answer round... and of course, its never so black and white as to say ‘give up this much value to yield this much success’. If it were that easy, the arts industry would just be a group of successful, soulless jerks. I'd like to be a little more optimistic... even though I often wonder: how much can one keep of him/her self and still be successful?

To which one could reply, art is not about money. Its just that simple.

On Tuesday night, I saw Savion Glover (Tony winning tap dancer) perform, and what he said parallels the message I took away from the film tonight: Only hard work and dedication will yield success, be it in the art industry, or in satisfaction with oneself.

I saved my favorite quote for last:

“Art lives and breathes. It has a pulse. It is not a stage, not something to outgrow.”

WORD.

The above picture is a funny thing I found on the interwebs whilst googling Aaron Rose. It’s a comparison between the artist Aaron Rose that made ‘Beautiful Losers’, and the artist Aaron Rose on Gossip Girl, who was Serena’s boytoy for a while.

Irene