If you don’t like art, I am writing this for you. If you like art but have no time for it, I am writing this for you. If you think you lack the skill or the knowledge, I am writing this for you.
So, where to start? Introductions: my goal here is to help you, the reader, to understand what art is - come back! I promise this will be good! Are you back? Art, at the beginning, middle, and end of the day, is… fun.
Now that this is established, here is the outline of how I am going to get you there: First, we’re going to explore words. We’ll look a little at the root of the word “art.” We will also consider the difference between nouns and verbs - bear with me, it took me a while to learn what “noun” and “verb” meant as well. After this has been established, I will then take some of - and only some of, mind - the concepts and structures that have built up over time around art, and “deconstruct” them - by which I mean I am going to try and blow them up. Then there will be a conclusion, which should, with luck, end with you understanding what I mean when I say, “art is fun.”
The modern Western word art has its root in the Latin “ars,” which means “to craft or make.” Before I expand, a quick aside: I like to think that the phrase “can’t be arsed” has it’s root in this word rather than reference to a person’s butt. Now, even here, in this root, ars is not talking about an object, but an action. Art is not, nor ever has been, a noun. Art is not an object, art is an action. To be arsed is to make, or to do. To dance and to sing are just as much to be arsed as to draw up schematics and coordinate teams on a ten year architectural project. To be arsed is to be a verb. To move is to make art.
Okay, here’s to hoping you’re still with me. Let’s go at one of the structures. What shall we start with? We’ll do one that’s been well trod before, art as something frivolous. Art is so much more. If you want science, being arsed makes you feel good. It reduces stress. This is regardless of skill (“skill,” another invented concept, which we shall get to shortly), by the way. Just the act of making something - drawing or folding pretty patterns or singing or shuffling your feet in a lil jig. It’s all art and it all reduces stress. Like smoking except without the poison, cancer, and addiction.
But I hear you - you don’t science. You want something you can feel. Well how about the fact that when you make something, no-one can tell you what to make? To be arsed is to be completely liberated from expectations. If you work a job or are still in education, then you have a boss there making demands of you. If you have your parents around or a spouse, there are expectations you have to fulfill. Even amongst friends, chances are there are levels of conformity you are compelled to adhere to. But to make art, the first person whose opinion matters, is yours. If you are both the arser and the judge, then how are you not free? How is this not the only space - a space you carve out for yourself - where you can be truly free?
Okay to be fair I don’t know if that second part really answers the question. But I hope it helps, none the less.
So what about skill, then? Skill is a con. There can’t be such a thing, because every arser that I have ever known has needed to practice. If skill was real, there would be people who didn’t need to practice, because they had skill. But to be fair I might just be playing word-games there. So, why is skill still bull shit? Because the first artists among us do not care about it. By first artists, I mean children. You ever see a child intimidated by a pencil? Five year olds don’t care about this invented thing adults crow on about called “skill,” five year olds care about having fun. It’s all just colour and shape to them. Which is to say, they see art for what it is: colour and shape, or noise made for the joy of it, or flailing around because they want to feel really good. Five year olds know what art is: five year olds know that art is fun.
Skill is a notion invented by those who don’t understand what art is. When something looks realistic, that is illusionism, sure. It is possible to do this with much practice (practice, you see? Not skill). But not all arsers care about realism or illusionism. And still those who forget what art is must attribute “skill” to it. The impressionists were initially rejected by the “art world” - the word impressionist is originally an insult. Because they chose other things to be arsed with. Yet now a Van Gough will sell for more than some neighbourhoods. Van Gough, by the way, died by suicide as a penniless thirty-something year old. He didn’t paint for illusionary effects, nor to prop up idols or social “leaders.” Van Gough painted because he wanted to bring something joyous into the lives of others.
My point here is not to convince you to stake your life on art for its own sake. By all means keep your day job. My point here is to show you that skill is an invented construct, and attitudes change all the time. Art is fun, and joyous, before it is anything else.
Okay so I’ve tackled art as frivolity (being arsed keeps you healthy), and art as skill (skill is a social construct). I’ll do one more. Which one? What do my non-art friends often bust out with? Art is only worth something when it is worth money. Fuck that. Five year olds
don’t lunge at a new packet of gel pens because they’re the playground’s Picasso. Van Gough, again, died penniless. This is after a lifetime of different careers - one which was as an art dealer. Van Gough knew what art-objects sold and what didn’t. He chose to paint how he did for the joy of it. Being arsed doesn’t de-stress people because of any price tag attached to what’s being made. People don’t sell tickets to hear them sing in the shower. Money too, is a social construct, and is entirely useless when measuring art.
Okay, let’s move on to the conclusion, I think: to be arsed, is to do. Art is a verb. To be arsed, is to have fun. Art can only be done first for the self. If the art we perform also brings our friends and family joy, then fantastic. But the only useful measurement for art is, how fun was it to be arsed?
I hope you're still with me. I hope you're going to dig around for a scratchy ball point and some old recipts and start doodling. I hope you feel something... different.
Okay that’s a short conclusion, but in my defence I was just distracted by a lemon and honey hot drink. Also, i really like a line in there; How fun was it to be arsed? I think I’ll end on that; How fun was it to be arsed?
