So I have been spending time on my journey soaking in the atmosphere and looking around with eyes that find the uniqueness in everything that I see. A fresh pair of eyes for inspiration and creation of life from raw materials.
I see art wherever I turn.
And as I stumble across a lot of art on my journey, my first question is... what is art?
I don't have an answer for that specifically.
Modern art doesn't have an answer for that specifically.
I will try and be non-specific then...
Art, in a non-specific way, is the essence of who we are and what we do. You are a piece of modern art, with your poetic word choices or the way you put your dinner on the canvas plate to make it visually appealing to appreciate it and eat. It is all art.
I take my art to the stage but there is not much distance between the stage and a business presentation where you present yourself to make an impression and effect an audience with a different perspective of subjective words, facts and figures. Public speaking. Confidence. Visual prompts. A smile. All art.
Or you can choose to express yourself in a place where all the suits come off, on the street. These artists are risk takers putting themselves 'out there' for the world to get inspiration. Whilst the world is walking down the street with their clothes as a canvas as inspirational food for the street art makers in a cycle of cause and effect.
Pick up a piece of curved wood and nylon and pluck it. Or if you lived before 1900, you'd have plucked the gut of a sheep or a goat to make melodic rules from sounds that float. Then creatively express that through symbols and lines so others can read and appreciate your art without your physical body to guide them. Sharing art through rules. Breaking artistic rules.
Or maybe one day someone created a pinhole through which the laws of physics determined would invert the image of an object unto a surface that would allow that image to be drawn. From this room size camera which would fit one or more people inside, to a hand size computer whose photographic memory is so powerful it can also tells us when to eat our lunch, orders it and then allows us to instantaneously upload that lunch to Instagram in a just few buttons.
What is art? It is science, it is engineering, it is choices, it is actions it is the silence in between, it is passion and expression to another person, or secretly for another person.
It is patience, it is boldness, it is an investment and risk. It takes belief and faith; it is spiritual.
It is your firstborn child. It is your love.
Take centre stage, the audience is in silent anticipation.
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But please when you walk daily towards some destination that you may not even be sure of, be sure that art is everywhere and can be expressed in anyway you choose, and interpreted in as many ways as words in our dictionary. The only certainty is the uncertainty of the journey, and the expression of self in the process. |
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Live life and create art.
I am in awe of artists, hence, I am in awe of you.
(Next post I will be discussing the role of art in domestic violence survivors...)
