Why Art?
I think we only ask this question about something when we aren’t sure it has value.
It is easy to get cynical about art, particularly when you spend any amount of time looking at the major news stories about it. Museums funded by toxic philanthropy, the art market as money laundering, the neoliberal horror show that is NFTs, major corporations stealing artists’ work for their own profit, and huge amounts of student debt from higher education. Not to mention the ongoing issues of institutionalized and systemic racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and ableism.
Taking a look at these stories, the message could seem that art is only for the rich, artists have no value and they are not worth supporting, art and artists are resources to extract from, and that it is unrealistic and irresponsible to pursue a life of artistic endeavors. These things are painful to contemplate and their impacts and injuries are very real.
All this contributes to the feeling that art, the making of it, and our interactions with it are primarily motivated and guided by money. That perspective isn’t wrong. We live in societies dominated by capitalism. And money does make art possible. Materials, space, labor, living expenses, archival preservation, and accessibility all cost something.
But I don’t think financial valuation is why art holds such importance within our cultures, why it hangs around in our lives and hearts even when it seems difficult to pursue. Art is so vital to so many of us that we are willing to wade through these problems and more just to keep art near us, keep it flowing in and around our lives, and keep it present.
It seems like too much to ask most of the time to deal with all these problems and complexities, so why do we do it?
Hundreds of reasons, I imagine, but here’s one that I keep returning to when I think about why art is essential: beauty.
I don’t know if each of us would agree on what is beautiful, but I think we would agree that we know beauty when we experience it. Here are some of the ways that I know and feel beauty:
As a way of understanding
One of the ways I encounter beauty in my art is by interacting with materials. Favorite materials of mine to work with are Gelly Roll pens by Sakura. For starters, they have so many different ways of shimmering, glistening, and reflecting light. The colors are rich and saturated underneath the shimmer so depending on the angle you look at it, you get a spot of light or a bit of color. When everything is working, the inks flow smoothly and densely, creating this particular thickness that is just right. As I make marks, I fall into a wonderful soothing, yet engaged interaction with the Gelly Roll pen.
As connection
I think a lot of beauty in artwork comes from the desire to connect and communicate through artwork. I made a fabric structure that people could enter and listen to an audio track of selected entries from my daily journal. On the top of it was a large quilt made of colored patchwork squares that symbolically recorded my feelings over 365 days on one of three dimensions (health, work, relationships). I was trying very hard to communicate a lot of information with this artwork! But the most beautiful part of that piece for me was when someone who saw it told me that the quilt squares made her think of the moon going through phases. It was wonderful to see my work through someone else’s experience of it and learn about a new way it could connect with someone.
As fluctuation
I make very tiny marks, or holes, or stitches in my artwork. I make them because, when I stand far enough away, I want for them to appear like a gauze over the background. The marks change from bright intense shades at one distance into textured pastels at another. I like that the imperfections my hand makes every so often with the marks or holes or stitches disappear when you look at the whole piece, but it’s obvious a person made them when you lean in close and see their slight wonkiness. I like that the movement of someone’s body as they walk past the artwork changes what they can see in it.
If each of these examples have made you think of your own experiences with art, that is wonderful! Make a note of them. As you think through and collect these examples from your own life, notice what you find beautiful.
When you sit with those thoughts and experiences, they will show you not only what art has done for you in your life, but also the kinds of things art could do for other people. Thinking through the dimensions of why art is important in your life can help you understand why it is also important for anyone who may encounter that art to have the opportunity to access that experience. If you understand the why of each work of art you create or experience, you’ve found an excellent place to begin making more accessible artworks and accessible exhibits or presentations of that art. Once you know what it is about a work of art that makes you light up, you can really focus on how to share that experience with the widest possible range of people.
Sources
Devi, Reena. “What the Sacklers and Museum Boards Tell Us About Toxic Philanthropy in the Art World.” cobosocial.com, published 26 January 2022, accessed April 2022.
Neville, Rena and Paula Trommel. “Art market money laundering crackdown spreads from UK to the US, but what impact is it having and are businesses taking it seriously?” The Art Newspaper, published 5 November 2021, accessed April 2022.
Olsen, Dan. “Line Goes Up - The Problem with NFTs.” Folding Ideas. YouTube, published 21 January 2022, accessed April 2022.
Dunne, Carey. “More Than 40 Artists and Designers Accuse Zara of Plagiarism.” Hyperallergic, published 29 July 2016, accessed April 2022.
Goukassian, Elena. “How Artists Are Weathering the Student Debt Crisis.” Artsy, published 9 October 2019, accessed April 2022.
