Not long ago, my son and I had a joint exhibition called "Cinefiend" which was an homage to movie poster art. To promote the exhibition we made a "mock-up" of what a wall covered with different posters could look like. Except for the Frankenstein's monster, which is a large original acrylic painting on canvas, all the different posters are painted on large water colour paper and true to the original posters although as interpreted by us. Our aim was to pay homage, not "re-engineer", or improve, ..... we already considered them as amazing works of art.
What is art? Wikipedia: "Art is a diverse range of human activities of creating visual, auditory or performing artifacts." (Artworks)
The Urban dictionary has this to say: "The purpose of art is to create an emotional response in the person who is exposed to that art."
My definition is: "Art is an outer expression of an inner experience."
To which some of you may respond with: From the artists perspective perhaps, but what about those of us who are not artists?
What can art (music, sculpture, dance, literature, etc.) do for us?
A few suggestions:
It can assist us in remembering. And we do so by buying(downloading) movies, books, images, concerts, ballets, TED talks, etc.etc. Most of us probably reach for the camera/phone when something that matters to us takes place. By having an image of that event we can return to it over and over again and be reminded of that experience. Which also applies to music, movies, etc..
It can assist us to preserve a sense of hope and optimism in the midst of all the troubles that befalls us
with the help of a beautiful landscape painting, a clever stand-up comedian/comedienne, a funny movie, music that makes us want to dance, and or words on a page that brings comfort to our souls, etc.etc.
It can assist us in our times of sorrow and pain. Do you know the song "Hallelujah" written by Leonard Cohen and made huge by Jeff Buckley? According to many people it's a sad, sad song, yet somehow also very comforting. When we are suffering, somehow "dark" paintings, sad music, movies with sad endings, dramas, tragic operas, sad poetry, etc. etc. often helps us getting through those difficult times. The artist's outer expression of his/her inner experience made available to us through his/her art form offers us an opportunity to connect emotionally with someone else through their art.
It can assist us in awaken and connecting us with parts of ourselves that our everyday lives keep hidden from us. I can still remember exactly what time, where I was, and what I was doing when I first heard the song "Bring me into life" by Evanescence. The song somehow found its way straight into the most hidden parts of myself and made them visible to me. Many I have spoken with have had similar experiences with movies, documentaries, paintings, books, poems, or other art forms. Maybe you have too.
"We are not transparent to ourselves. We have intuitions, suspicions, hunches, vague musings and strangely mixed emotions, all of which resist simple definitions. We have moods, but we don't really know them. Then, from time to time, we encounter works of art that seem to latch on to something we have felt but never recognized clearly before." (Alain de Botton, "Art as therapy")
At times, we may reject artistic expressions because in our view they come in the "wrong" wrappings: "I don't like modern art, heavy metal, jazz, classical, country, etc. music, I don't like ballet, musicals, opera, street art, performance art, installations" and so on... unwittingly becoming prey to unfounded prejudiced judgements and missing out on valuable experiences.
"I don't like contemporary art, there's no real skill involved."
"When you say contemporary art, what do you mean?"
"I mean that Pollock guy, Picasso, and those artists that just throw some paint on the canvas. Anybody could do that, no skill required."
"Would it surprise you if I told you that they are not classified as contemporary artists, but
Banksy, Francis Bacon, Andy Warhol, Shepard Fairy, to mention a few, are regarded as contemporary artists, and they are all considered by most art connoisseurs as highly skilled."
I recently had a conversation similar to this with someone, I asked him if he was willing to have a look at some of my work as I see myself as a contemporary artist. He did. His comment was: "I guess I like contemporary art after all."
Alain de Botton again: "We grow up with a canon of art: a widely accepted list of art we should revere ..........." but what if we ignored that list and our own "wrappings", what if like children we allowed ourselves to just emotionally experience the art before us whatever it may be?
The mind boggles.
"Art enables us to find ourselves and loose ourselves at the same time" (Thomas Merton)
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