On Transforming the Ugly into the Beautiful
Wednesday, March 9, 2016
She went on to explain that one can do a charcoal drawing of a trash can overflowing with trash and it would still be the most beautiful thing in the world with the right perspective. At the time I thought she was a little nuts, but decided to file that morsel of virtue into the recesses of my brain.
It was a wonderful thing that I did keep them in the back of my closet shelf. These words didn't really ring true for me until my college years. It was in those years that I began exploring modern dance, befriended an impressionist style painter, and began to work in contemporary theatre. I realized that my favorite pieces of art were unconventionally perfect, not the masterpieces seen in history books. My teacher's words flooded over the gates of my memory as I finally understood: the most beautiful moments are awkward curves on the floor, paintings with faces in blue, and harsh words spoken out of the truest coarsest human emotions. In so many words, the "ugly" became the beautiful.
And so is my life today. Now, I never use the term "ugly" if I can avoid it. Instead, I ask myself "how can I make this wonderfully imperfect?"
Do not be confused. I will never tire of the beautiful things in life. Long ballet lines, fresh pink flower petals, the tender curls of hair freshly washed... These will always have their own appeal as they make my eyes become lesser and my lips become wider. But rainy parking garages and boyish military boots and shooting around homeless people will also be beautiful, with the right perspective. Sometimes there is a place for a field of wildflowers in golden sunlight, just like sometimes there is a place for splashing in puddles of filthy water on a cold, rainy day and wearing black lipstick instead of red and not caring about the mud on your boots.
Do not be confused. I will never tire of the beautiful things in life. Long ballet lines, fresh pink flower petals, the tender curls of hair freshly washed... These will always have their own appeal as they make my eyes become lesser and my lips become wider. But rainy parking garages and boyish military boots and shooting around homeless people will also be beautiful, with the right perspective. Sometimes there is a place for a field of wildflowers in golden sunlight, just like sometimes there is a place for splashing in puddles of filthy water on a cold, rainy day and wearing black lipstick instead of red and not caring about the mud on your boots.
Life isn't black and white, it's the yen and the yang, the lovely and the less lovely, the good and the less good. But the ugly is never just ugly.
Have you ever tried to find something lovely in a midst of something grisly?
Have you ever tried to find something lovely in a midst of something grisly?
