Questioning the validity of art itself: Patti Smith’s improvised, apocalyptic masterpiece
Punk, poet, and writer – Patti Smith has always been more than the sum of her parts. With each facet of her incredible career, her talent is lorded over by a clear and poignant intellect. Inspired by the likes of Arthur Rimbaud, Allen Ginsberg and a cast of free thinkers that have pushed the art world forward, Smith applies the same thoughtfulness to her own work, using even her most rousing songs to ponder big topics. In one instance, the subject at hand was her very own position, wondering what it all even means to be an artist.
What is the role of an artist? That’s a question that Smith seems obsessed with asking. In her book Just Kids, she considers it through the life of her friend, Robert Mapplethorpe, and the New York scene around them. In her public presence, she often shares snippets of her findings or ideas, telling young artists everywhere to “build a good name”, respect their own legacies, and value work over easy fame. In her constant celebration of the legends across art, music and literature, she celebrates artist’s contributions over and over.
But what does it all mean? Smith once said that “An artist is somebody who enters into competition with God”, implying that once someone takes us the divine call of artistry as if they’re given the role from above, their life is then forever changed by the push and pull of that call.
However, that’s all pretty flouncy. The idea of the divine role of an artist doesn’t quite hold up in the modern age of technology, climate disasters, and the new economic state where living costs a pretty penny, and sometimes creation can’t fit in the budget. Having considered the role of an artist and studied the legacy left by creatives spanning generations, Smith found herself contemplating the changed landscape of it all in 2012 when her thoughts on the matter splashed across an improvised track.
Throughout her career, improvisation has been a cornerstone for Smith as her band lays down a track, and she merely lets her mind wander. In the case of ‘Constantine’s Dream’, a track from Banga, she found herself back on a pilgrimage to Italy she’d made in 2008 to explore the life of Saint Francis, a figure related to the environment who followed the call to live a life of poverty in service to God, living his years writing poetry as a beggar.
From there, her mind wandered to Christopher Columbus and Roman Emperor Constantine, and through these grand images of exploration, devotion, and dedication to a calling, she found herself repeatedly coming back to the present moment and wondering if anything quite as grand could happen anymore in the darkness of the modern age. She imagined these figures “having a dream of the environmental apocalypse of the 21st century.”
“It questions the role of artists in our society,” she told Spin. “The questions are there, and they’re not answerable questions. They’re more things that we contemplate and ruminate constantly.”
“As an artist, one thinks, ‘What is the purpose of art? Can we make a difference?” she continued, but added that now, those questions are joined by another one; “Is art just more pollution in an already polluted world?” To Smith, the already complex topic of art’s purpose is now further confused by the dying of the planet and human’s role in it. With the connection between the person and the artist already a tricky one, the need for artists to take responsibility along with the rest of society makes it even harder.
“There are a million questions one asks oneself,” she concluded, with no answers to the questions she’s pondering through the track. But that’s the beauty of Smith’s work. Rather than trying to be a leader, she’s a teacher, posing questions to the class and facilitating deeper thought.
