Manifesto

I was trying to find an essay I had written for some grad school applications (they said they didn't recieve it, which is crazy because I checked only about a million times!) and I found this manifesto I wrote. First, you need to know that art school is often all about the bullshit. Second, that I sometimes have too much time on my hands.

Manifesto of a Nihilist Decoupagist

Nihilism is really none of your business you sad little conformist. Because I am a nihilist, I don't even truly believe in nihilism, for that would make me believe in something-- contravening all nihilistic views (of which there are none)-- which is impossible.

Decoupage is your grandmothers business. An intensely care-oriented and crafty pastime: decoupage is the art of gluing pictures of anything to virtually any object (preferrably something of great sentimental value). Decoupagists are often older females who are retired or in some way phyically disabled, so they have lots of time.

I am a nihilist who is as interested in decoupage as a nihilist can possibly be. When you don't care about anything it can be difficult creating art, so half of my 'craft' is in the thought process.

As I glue celebrity faces (usually Justin Timberlake) to lamps, jewellery, boxes, photo albums, and various other objects, I often think about how I don't care about the object I'm decorating, I don't care about the pictures that I have painstakingly cut out, and I certainly don't give a shit about the glue holding all of those pictures on. I don't believe in galleries, art, or even the art object; therefore I have no concerns about whether or not what I'm doing is even art.

Other loser-nihilist-wannabes will read this and say "Oh Mighty Cathy, if you are such a devout nihilist, why are you even bothering to write a manifesto?" To that nihilist-wannabe I reply: "Shut-up, jerk-store. I am a true nihilist because I supercede even the bounds of nihilism. No popular social, quasi-religious ideals could possibly touch me due to the depth of my not caring about anything."

On the days (there are many) when I can't be bothered to do my decoupage based on principals of nihilism, I try not to think about it. I don't consider its relation to contemporary art, and simply couldn't give a flying f*** about what my work could mean to the world in general. Probably nothing. Potentially something, but probably nothi........

The Mighty Cathy, not that it really matters.


On a completely different topic, it's friday here in Naju ET. The week has gone by REALLY fast as usual. Yesterday as I arrived at my school, I walked past the administration building and noticed a few broken windows. And when we opened up the english town, there were four more broken windows!! Someone's NOT a fan of english apparently. One of my co-teacher's swore it was a "Naju gang", which struck me as pretty hilarious. I can just imagine the Naju Gang: a bunch of local toughs with dramatically styled hair, wearing three piece metrosexual suits and carrying expensive handu-pone's, sitting in the "BMW Bar" plotting their dramatic attack on Naju Elementary School. Ha! It was probably some old guy who'd had WAAAY to much Soju. This is roughly what a Naju gang member would look like:



Of course it's ACTUALLY a picture of the beloved Eun-hyuk of Super Junior, but you get the idea. Most young Korean men look and dress a lot like this. Doesn't just looking at him strike fear into your heart?