Whatever happened to the courters of controversy?

And so it can be said… 2016 was not one of the best years on record. Social media was a flutter with plenty of articles why there has been such a big shift in Machiavellian personas taking over world powers and how the past year rambled on like a teenager high on drugs.

I was always taught that it is impolite to talk politics and religion at the table, and boy it’s a whole lot worse to talk about this on an open platform, but 2016 left us little to talk about other than who do you agree with more, far left or far right, walls or open borders.

Yes, some of these topics and dilemmas seem somewhat distant from our shores but when you’re out for dinner and you suddenly find yourself justifying your moral grit to someone and you are sporadically overwhelmed with the possibility of how many pesto and sundried tomato infused bread rolls you could forcibly push into someone now is the time to leave.

This got me thinking, whatever happened to the intellects, the creative masterminds, the muses of the World? The people that courted controversy in the name of art not political votes. You can of course always take Tracey Emin who is never shy in telling it how it is, love or loathe her she is at the forefront of confessional art and continues to pound her drum brilliantly.

Someone who always stands out head and shoulders above everyone is the grand master himself, Salvador Dali. A quick google search will show you many darker sides and still show the brilliance that he managed to capture and translate from everyday life. Socially he was hysterical, though some found it rather offensive when he went to a fancy-dress party as the Lindenberg baby and his friend as the captor.

Yes at the time maybe it was in bad taste but it goes to show that sometimes we need a distraction from the atrocities, an escape.

It is important to follow the Chinese philosophy of Yin and Yang. This principle is that all things exist

as inseparable and contradictory opposites, for example female-male, dark-light and old-young, good and bad.

Fill this year with inspiration and surround yourself with the lighter things. All it takes is a small adjustment and you will be surprised how much better you feel. I start my year with the montage of Dali available at our store in Lonehill with one of his more favored quotes, I don’t do drugs, I am drugs….