Following is an excerpt from one of the Chapters in my book, Point of Art.

I’m not a cool person. They can dress me up to look cool. I’ve played cool on TV. But I’m really not cool. That’s ok, I’m cool with it. On the other hand, with all this talk about “cool cities” I thought we should take a moment to deconstruct cool. Trouble is, even the word “deconstruct” is no longer cool, so this isn’t going to be easy. But I’m cool with that, too.

The difficulty is that cool is like silence: the moment you speak its name it is no longer there. It is the ephemeral nature of cool that concerns me most, particularly since we have now firmly planted the future of arts funding in the soil of cool.

Advertisers drive themselves crazy trying to determine the latest in cool. Cool is a pretty tricky commodity. It’s like the old adage: “I don’t know anything about art but I know what I like.” We know cool when we see it. Nevertheless, cool is subjective.  Cool is temporary. Cool is indefinable by its very nature.  If we take a look at the word itself we can see the problem. To be cool is to be detached in an apathetic way. Cool people let things slide. They hang loose. Nothing bothers them. It’s all cool. Cool people like to think of themselves as unique but they’re not; they’re part of a trend. By definition, cool people lack passion, which is really cool if you want to follow the crowd.

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If you like/don’t like or want to add your thoughts to the conversation, I encourage you to comment.  Also, you may want to get a copy of Point of Art – Second Edition, or download it today.   I offer career coaching for those serious about a career in art. Don’t forget to check out  The Portrait – a painting video  and The Power of Positive Painting, the original portrait painting video.