We are living in a world of sensory stimulation.
One of the definitions of Art could be “an organized ensemble of sensory signals designed to express and evoke a particular emotional or/and intellectual response in the human psyche”…
Aware of it or not, we live in societies were artistic creation is present everywhere.
Art is among us.
Art in its many forms (as ephemeral as a live performance or as resilient as carved stone) is found where humans are, at all times and at all places of our history, regardless of our level of civilization, poverty, or technology.
When we talk about Art today it is mostly designing various creations inside what is labelled as Fine Arts (even when “fine” is seldom appropriate to define the attempt sometimes).
In any case it is often considered as a luxury. Something that has high market value and is not an absolute necessity in the daily life of the masses. I beg to differ.
Art is so inherent to humanity that is is present even when people have no comfort, no riches and no freedom. We were making Art when living in caves. We made Art through wars, plagues, slavery, as well as during the golden years of various civilizations. We made Art with dirt, with wood, with stone, with sounds, we made Art with blood and we made it with gold.
Why do we keep doing it, no matter where, no matter what?
Because Art defines us as sentient human beings. Art gives us a vehicle to express the inexpressible, the overwhelming, the rapturously beautiful, the awe, the pain, the intuition to belong to a bigger picture, the sacred…
Art contemplates, evokes, transgresses; Art reveals; Art teaches us what can’t be taught with words. Art is bigger than our circumstances. Art endures and talks of long gone ways of living.
Yes: Art has high value. Great Art offers always a lot more than the sum of its parts and its effect part takes of our collective evolution.
Art comes from a high level of consciousness, an acute sensory ability, a freedom of spirit and stimulates these qualities in the whole human group.
When we do Art, we are connected, we are touched by grace, we are cosmic. Artists are alchemists, transmuting the usual into mythology, delivering ever new versions of what we thought we knew… and creating unforeseen worlds from thin air.
When we let ourselves be touched by Art, we engage with that part of us that is beyond survival, mortality, and earth-bound limitations. We get to approach the unfathomable, exquisite awareness of being gifted with Life.
Art makes us what we are and leaves testimonies of what we have been. It often also show us visionary paths to our future.
We need Art so much that we might never have become civilized without it. We need Art at all times, and even more so when we are going through rough patches and periods of change. Art helps us shift paradigms.
Art is arranging a composition, for no other reason than giving it spirit, to play with harmony, to catch someone’s attention, to feel happy by co-creating…
Art… Art is us.
“Creativity is contagious, pass it on.” ~Albert Einstein
More later…