Eoghan Bridge – The Silence of the Artists

Sometimes I feel that the linear constraints of society impact heavily upon the flow of my creativity and it’s hard to find a balance between what are essentially tangential approaches to life. The fundamental humanity witnessed through artistic expression, versus the imposed customs and generality of a society built on established precedents. Art without rules for a society bound by rules.

When I feel optimistic I look back on the human struggles with art and wonder if all this endeavour and exploration will eventually return humanity to look to the core values of existence. It’s hard to explain but by working through the possibilities and distractions of an evolving civilisation, I question if there will be a point of consolidation that will lead to a refocusing. A simplification of the complex struggle of existence, so that it becomes reduced to the important elements of authentic expression. That art may work through the vain distractions of cultural flamboyance, returning to the core and awe of being.

Of course there are pressing concerns about the health of this planet and we must be reaching the zenith of production and exploitation, that tipping point where there needs to be a shift in attitudes and values. And art as an intergral element of society is a legitimate contributor to the philosophical debate of what direction civilization should take. Which is why we must not be subjected to a cultural whitewash from those who seek to maintain a system through what amounts to oppression.

When I feel pessimistic, I feel trapped and weighted down in a quagmire of meaningless complexity, a society bound by the burden of excess and I can see no way forward. I feel my hope dwindling and so I fight to hold onto the values which allow me to believe in humanity, the ones nobody talk about anymore. Through my art I find the faint connections which hold me to the values I feel inside, but outside the world is racing blindly into troubled waters. The incredible thing is that as I work through thousands of ideas and thoughts, there is an utter simplicity to life, but it’s hard to hold onto when it doesn’t seem to be valued by society.

At times I feel that my society blinds me to the actuality of life from a truly different perspective, as I live trapped within the specificity of a time and a place. And I believe that unless one awakens, an entire life can be lived under the enchantment of an imposed social order. And I wonder if it’s a sinister enchantment that is imposed with a calculated precision. A form of repression to control and passify a population into compliance within the bands of what is accepted in a quasi democracy. Democracies which in fact mask the truth of long established social orders and hierarchy, if I may be so bold as to manipulate that quote “we are all born equal, but some are more equal than others”.

Sometimes we may forget how we got here, how religion and monarchy founded the systems of modern hierarchies. Institutions which use power to manipulate and control, for a purpose which grew to fit an evolutionary pattern. A model of growth and central organisation which led to prosperity through the division of labour and social order. And I wonder where humanity is now and if we’re governed by historic precedent, because we have become so conditioned that we can’t see any alternative. As an artist I’m torn because I understand the systems in part but I also see from an alternative perspective, how the free spirit can prevail.

Theoretically we march together for a common good and yet none of us seem to know what that is, beyond upholding the status quo. The maitainance of a society hell bent on exploitation and destruction without a vision or purpose and out of synchronisation with the planet itself. A world under the spell of corporate giants, organisations with God like status, which we are expected to follow blindly. It’s a bleak reality in many ways, caught up in a rat race following a hierarchical model, living under its spell. And here we are all worshipping the brands and the deities in charge who oversee global domination.
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