Peter

Kaprow speaks of everyday rituals that have become routinized, such as the simple act of brushing one's teeth. He feels that we lose awareness of ourselves while going through the motions of such rituals. It doesn't occur to us that all of our subtle muscle movements and idiosyncrasies are unique to us at that very moment in time. I myself often forget why I'm brushing and have to remind myself that I'm cleaning the leftover food residue from my teeth which are used to rip and chew the food that I eat so that I may digest the nutrients in my stomach that are necessary for my body and mind to function. I think that by becoming routinized, we lose sight of the bigger picture of why we brush our teeth, and it just ends up being something that we do in the morning when we wake up and at night before we sleep. It's not until we visit the dentist that we are reminded of the context of such a simple act. I won't even get into to flossing. But the point is, we need to be aware of the everyday things that we do for ourselves and realize their connections to how we live. Awareness is key in the creative process, and creativity is the moving force of art, and art does exist in the "everyday routines" when we are awakened to the fact that the "everyday routines" are part of the process of life.