In the interest of full disclosure, I must admit that, despite my having spent a good deal of time as a practitioner of blues music, photography and writing, I fundamentally consider myself a student of the arts that interest me. My success in any of these artistic endeavours has been, at best, moderate. It would be supercilious of me to make any pronouncements from the standpoint of any great artistic achievement. However, I have played the game enough to have learned a thing or two. It is in that spirit that this post is presented.
Probably the most overlooked question any artist or student of the arts can ask themselves is " What is art?" When I have asked this question of various friends, many of whom were trying to succeed in some form of artistic endeavour, the answers were invariably long and convoluted. Virtually everyone appreciates art at some level and most people are involved, to varying degrees in some form of artistic expression to get their creative ya yas out. Yet, it seems that no one can provide a concise definition of the term.
In an effort to find some clarification on the matter, I turned to the word wizards of Oxford and my trusty, musty Oxford Reference Dictionary. Their definition is as follows; art n. 1 Human creative skill or its application; the branch of creative activity concerned with the production of imitative and imaginative designs and expression of ideas, especially in painting; products of this...Whew! ... Yeah, like I'm gonna keep that in mind when I'm wailing on a harmonica in some blues bar or clicking a camera shutter with frozen fingers on a frosty autumn morning! And that was just the first of five listed definitions!
I had an "Aha!" moment when having a discussion with a friend about music. He described a guitarist he had heard as a brilliant guitarist but a lousy musician. Apparently, the guitarist my friend was describing was one of those wunderkind who could play a thousand notes a minute, or, as my friend described it " faster than the speed of good taste". " The only thing he could communicate with his instrument was how fast he could play it." As a student of the blues, I could really appreciate what my friend was saying. Blues is perhaps one of the simplest yet most expressive forms of music there is. The guitarist he described was all flash and no substance. The first part of the puzzle clicked into place. A highly developed level of technique was not enough.
To be a creative person, one must first be a person of some humility. Artistic effort fails when one believes oneself to be greater than that which is artistically represented. For an artist to fully represent the power of the subject matter, he or she must first be, at least a little bit, in awe of it. Granted, a degree of ego is also needed, if only to present the artistic effort to what one hopes will be an appreciative audience. It is all part of the great artistic balance or, as I like to call it, the working dichotomy.
There is a dichotomy which exists in all forms of artistic expression. If one considers any work of art, it can be split into two distinct but equally important parts. Marshall McLuhan spoke of the medium and the message. In the world of the arts, that application is valid. Call it what you will, medium and message, technique and soul, style and story. It seems to be the common thread of all artistic experience. Mona Lisa's enigmatic smile would have been lost forever if it were not for DaVinci's skill in a) seeing it and b) capturing it. It is that sublime combination of soul and masterful technique that make it the world's most famous painting. I could go on ad nauseam listing other examples of great artistic achievement , but you get my drift.
Thus, I have been able to simplify my definition of art. To me, art is the communication of concepts. The definition can be split into that fundamental dichotomy; communication ( style, skill, technique) and concept ( story, subject, song, emotion, point of view) . It also provides a paradigm for the very personal and subjective appreciation of the arts. A benchmark if you will, for answering that age old question, "Why do I love/hate this?"
The great thing about this "Information Age" is the democratisation of all human expression. The terrible thing about this "Information Age" is the democratisation of all human expression. To that end, nothing has really changed. It just got bigger and more accessible. Including my ability to write and publish a post like this one.
...more later
" Serenity is the command of the sunrise" -from a poem by Gregory Barker 2009
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