Art TalkIn the name of ART

In the name of ART

“How can you say one style is better than another? You ought to be able to be an Abstract Expressionist next week, or a Pop artist, or a realist, without feeling you’ve given up something.. I think that would be so great, to be able to change styles. And I think that’s what’s is going to happen, that’s going to be the whole new scene.”

Andy Warhol

Art is a collection of ideas an artist submerges himself in and poetically or chaotically gives direction to those ideas through his brush. It would not be wrong to call art as a form of religion. The artist preaches the very own idea he is limning and the viewer worships the canvas by indulging in its beauty and depth of mystery.

When there are no words, but, a canvas, filled with color to communicate, it evokes your senses. There are many facets to the very canvas you are looking at. The communication lies in the structure of its lines, colors and shapes. It may appeal to your creative gesture or simply make you excitable or thoughtful. The art world embarks you on a journey, taking you to the transcendent state where you have experiences of reverence for the artist.

The artists take great pleasure in tearing apart the fence between themselves and the audience. They want the audience to be a part of the artistic process to experience the true essence of the creative process.

Some may see the walls in a laneway as badly drenched with paint, to others, the same walls will be depicting a beautiful piece of artistic chaos that the artist is echoing through his brush. It’s a visual stimulant which resonates to create a pure delight with some but an unrequited crush with others. 

Be it the confident splashes of colors of Jackson Pollock’s abstract expressionism or the vibrant representation of the pop art movement by Andy Warhol. The creation called “the icon of modern art,” The Scream, by expressionist Edvard Munch or Lucian Freud’s paintings representing realism create an expression of awe in the viewers’ minds.100761143_226e540b49_o

-Edvard Munch described the inspiration behind painting his most famous image “The Scream” in his diary:

“One evening I was walking along a path, the city was on one side and the fjord below. I felt tired and ill. I stopped and looked out over the fjord—the sun was setting, and the clouds turning blood red. I sensed a scream passing through nature; it seemed to me that I heard the scream. I painted this picture, painted the clouds as actual blood. The color shrieked. This became The Scream.”

Art is something which should not be limited to mere painting. The soothing effect that music has on us, the awe inspired work of architecture, the brilliance of a theatrical play, all depicts some form of art. The art gives soul to these things coming into existence.

“Art is the only serious thing in the world. And the artist is the only person who is never serious.”

Oscar Wilde

One thing I love about artists is their romance with risk. They experiment with different techniques and surfaces to come up with something unique. The gift of fearlessness is what draws the line between a good artist and a great one. Although the debate is not about good art or great art, but one can’t ignore the fact that great art does affect us on a conscious as well as unconscious level.

There is no single definition to define art. It’s the audience’s vision of how they see and feel it. Some may see the walls in a laneway as badly drenched with paint, to others, the same walls will be depicting a beautiful piece of artistic chaos that the artist is echoing through his brush. It’s a visual stimulant which resonates to create a pure delight with some but an unrequited crush with others.

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You must be thinking, but how doesn’t art connect with everyone? How something so beautiful is ignored by some? Why can’t they see the sharpness or the blurriness, the color brightness or the dullness in the artistic creation?

-The answer to these questions is simple. When we are looking at art, we are not only focusing on the colors or the lines or the shape of the object, but we are looking for a style that makes the artist and his artwork distinct from the others. Charles Bukowski in his cheeky way puts it as;

“Not many have style
Not many can keep style
I have seen dogs with more style than men,
although not many dogs have style.
Cats have it with abundance.”

The artist is inspired by his vivid and boundless imagination using the colors as his muse while the audience is fascinated by trying to find the muse that resonates with their inspiration. This creative curtain between the artist and the viewer has an intimacy with one thing in common “Art.”  The style is one of the main aspects that connects us with the creativity of the artist. It is what excites us to nurture our cravings for true beauty and the divinity of the artist’s spirit that moves us in a Godly manner, in the name of ART.


 

Photos Credit: Rocor, Ian Burt and B+ Fouzy (Flickr Creative Commons)

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