Brian Eno has a way of putting things. He seems to know we all have it in us and he knows how to say so.
Eno once toured a sprawling Russian art exhibit that made him uniquely aware of all the little-known painters who coexisted with the alleged immortals. This gave him a way of putting something he knew already. Every genius, he noted, operates within a scene of already thoughtful people cultivating, through the expenditure of their own creative resources, a new world of possibility, of people attending and tending to one another. The scene makes something seen within and without.
Eno gave the phenomenon a name: scenius. “…Genius is the talent of an individual, scenius is the talent of a whole community,” he said in a 2015 lecture. There is no genius apart from a scenius. It takes two to mean.
I don’t always know what my form is. But I do know that Todd Greene is at the heart of my scene. “I’m a genius and you can too.” I’ve never heard him say that but I can imagine him saying it. Like Eno, he seems to know we all have it in us. What’s it?
Art, intuition, Buddha nature, moral power, love, honesty, Earthseed, and/or affection. Choose one or more of all of the above.
I have an anecdote that reminds me of Todd. It comes to us through Crabb Robinson, who once visited William Blake and put certain questions to him in December 1825: “On my asking in what light he viewed the great question concerning the Divinity of Jesus, Christ, he said; ‘He is the only God.’ But then he added—‘And so am I and so are you.’”
I confess I love this. It overcomes a sometimes deadly dualism most helpfully and can inspire a sense of due reverence in our consideration of art, output, family, friends, and ideological opponents if we’ll let it. Paying heed, heartily and humbly, to what we love and why, to what others love and why, is a holy work. To love a person is to love a person. To love a self is to love a process. What might it mean to begin to see what we’ve seen in our scenes?
Anyway, the image above is called “A Beautiful Babadook” which is part of a series called “Giant Sucking Sound.” I think we all have one in us. A giant sucking sound, a beautiful babadook, an appetite, and a river of love.
Todd has an art show tonight at Rockwall Gallery. Come out if you can.
"a new world of possibility, of people attending and tending to one another."
Beautiful. Add to that 'world of possibility' the rest of the created order and you may have a vision worth pursuing with heart, mind, and soul.
Thank you, David.
Oh how I love this! Thank you David ...