July 18, 2025: the threat to beauty.

A pox on the houses of those who monetize the elimination of creativity. We are increasingly living in the simulacrum of a world of human creativity and beauty. Rick Beato has been on this train for a while now but this video today makes the point that we’re all vulnerable to being sucked down the hole of a culture of barely adequate wall paper. Our sense of taste and appreciation for art has been undermined my whole life in favour of commercialized slop. The end game is upon us.

And an antidote to that: because it doesn’t mean that artists have lost the impulse to create and craft their voices. For example, there is a stunningly beautiful show on at the. Owen Island Art Gallery – The Hearth – with two of my favourite Bowen artists, Di and Guthrie Gloag. Get on the ferry and come over here and see it. It needs to be experienced in person and appreciated with lingering reflection. As does all the best art. Just go to a local gallery and linger in front of a painting. Go to a play with actual local actors. The next time you see a busker stop and listen to them. Go hear live music played by people who play instruments. Buy a book of poetry or a novel. These acts sound obvious but reflect on the last time you did them. When did you actually share space with an artist who is creating? Or held in your hands the fruits of their work?