Good Art
September 3, 2016
Not everybody has the ability to let their emotions and true feelings live out there in the world. Many, if not most people, hide what is soft within underneath a social shell that protects this intimacy.
Good art has the ability to express for those that are less capable, the subtle textures of their inner perceptions, emotions and experiences into the physical world, through tangible manifestations.
What is difficult about art, is that it is judged by critics that intellectualizes it on the one hand, and on the other hand, by the unyielding criteria of originality.
Bad art is empty art (I apologize to conceptual art).
By trying to create something new, sometimes art looses momentarily its first quality. But art is continually renewed nevertheless, as it tries to reflect the spirit of each new generation, even though sometimes it skips one here and there, that lies to close philosophically with the previous.
The difficulty with art, is that artists are not shrinks or mediums. They cannot know this intrinsic quality that lies in others. They can only imagine it, like authors do, or work with self expressing their own inner selves, hoping that it resonates with others.
Virtuosity can still be a key ingredient of artistic endeavours. Indeed, the sheer prodigious mastery of form and matter is often enough to inspire awe, and in itself, something very interior in an audience.
What about design? There is obviously artistic creativity at work. But is it art? One could argue that giving soul to a place or a thing can help people self-express by living in or with designed places and things. Think of someone that buys a nice Tour de France uniform to bike to work. They feel great!
How about advertising? Marketers know more than anybody the importance of getting audiences to incorporate a specific product, brand or service into their experience of life.
Even more, latest trends put engagement at the heart of their creative campaigns and marketing strategies, just like audience participation in the artwork has been a thing.
Emotional connection is the soul of an artistic expression. And as such, art helps us travel through imagination, reminiscence and wonder, but before everything, through feeling.
So the next time you feel paralyzed and unable to connect in a social setting, bring art with you and let it do some of the talking!
© The Taiji Student
