recto y verso EDITIONS, Inc.

 
“MAKE ART

Hispanic Paradox Press presents to the public a sheet of paper that contains three words, a blank space and a question mark. Feel free to partake in this worldwide Gaian writing assignment, where the people of every nation are invited to a synchronous act of mindfulness, where multitudes of ideas coalesce into one moment, where a simple sheet of paper can swaddle the world in love, where the human mind is given space to be a creative source of interconnectivity, where the esemplastic power of the poet can unify the world, and where imagination is an open source and free commodity to disperse at will.

HPP’s simple prompt attempts to actualize a kind of inner-peace and global harmony by asking us to contemplate the void, an empty space, a missing word, an opening big enough for the world to fit inside, where our collective psyches ride on a sea of language, not pretense or doublespeak, but of experiential truth. A resolute question mark implores our muses to engage this enigmatic riddle, a yin and yang aestheticism, a meditation through acceptance of a negative space, thus through our actions a positive whole is made, neutralizing the negative. 

Through a will to power, we fill an empty space in hopes of a more peaceful world, where people recall the inherent strength in communicating with one another. The phrase “MAKE ART NOT _____?” suggests that art’s opposite is a nothingness, an endless void, a blind window, a zero. When we engage this blank space and complete the phrase, we’re challenged by the task, left on our own to contemplate new directions of what we want to say about ourselves, about each other, and about the world. We can, in the here and now, connect to our innate creativity and idiosyncratic way of being. We find a space to breathe and the capacity to reclaim our possibilities in a more humanistic way, free from global chatter and endless projections of fear by the media’s persistent talking heads. 

For millennia, since Lascaux to TikTok, we define our humanity by inscribing our inner-thoughts onto some form of medium that we can share. Pen and paper have been the simplest tools of revolution and are anathema to the authoritarian mind. Led by our thoughts, the hand moves the pen as the mind contemplates what to say. Digital keyboards homogenize us into automatons, forcing us to bend our wills into its tiny interface, but our distinct handwriting makes evident our individual place in the world. 

The tempest known as the Covid-19 pandemic has by now touched us all, as we collectively try moving forward, at our own pace, being resiliently human we safeguard our minds while processing our losses. For years now, our dreams were deferred to an uncertain future, redefined as a global health crisis. Now is the time to validate each other towards a more productive future, for ourselves and for our planet. We can regain our strength and significance through solidarity of mind and body. Words and actions change lives. Most people fear writing out their truth in black and white, one word could reveal too much; yet doing so is the art of being human. The very least of our actions can affect the entire Universe. 

In sharing with each other we can move forward, living for a moment without filters, saying what it is we mean to say and rejecting monolithic culture whose end results are always marginalization. One-size-fits-all is good for machines, not humans. To live more than as the artist, but as the art itself. The riddle seeks an answer, fill in the space and share your voice with everyone else’s. HPP’s interactive art exhibition aspires to be an “old-fashioned” happening where collective creativities and boundless imaginations multiply worldwide and beyond.


NOT _____?”