Buried Treasures-Part One

Last week I started digging through my storage space which presently contains over ten years worth of stuff I've collected. Most of it is junk that I don't need anymore, so I figured it was time to do a big edit. If any of you have ever tried this, it's a pretty darn emotional experience. Every box I crack open is filled with evidence and memories of life's bold triumphs and bitter failures. It feels kind of like a psychic colonic. As I sat around over the weekend looking at all this stuff I decided it might be a good idea to share some of the things I'm finding...so the next few posts from me are going to be treasure reports. They say one man's trash is another man's treasure...hopefully you find these to be the latter...

As I went through a box of books I pulled out this old book about Jean Cocteau. I don't even remember when I got this thing, but it's pretty yellowed, so it must have been a while ago. Anyway, if you've never heard of Jean Cocteau, he was a poet, novelist, artist, illustrator, photographer, stage and film director who came to prominence in Paris in the 1920's.

I guess you could call him a surrealist, but he never really associated himself with that. I first got into him because of his drawings and paintings (above), but I soon realized that that was only the tip of the iceberg. Cocteau was one of those artists that created as if he had some sort of magic wand. He never let the idea of "mediums" confine his art. he simply created what he wanted to create, regardless of whether he was trained in it or not. The result is an incredible life's work that I highly suggest you pursue further.

This is one my my favorite Jean Cocteau quotes: "The instinct of nearly all societies is to lock up anybody who is truly free. First, society begins by trying to beat you up. If this fails, they try to poison you. If this fails too, the finish by loading honors on your head."