Category: Art

Conversations about art can always circle back to the fundamental question of what it’s all about: why we’ve pursued this process of representing our perceptions of reality; what it means or adds to personal or collective existence; and how essential it might be to human society (see Note One). Some chart the paths of civilisations by their cultural ideas and conversations, asking what all this tells us about how people lived.

In many ways, art tends to reflect the forms and preoccupations of any given time, using the materials and techniques available to explore what’s meaningful within that society. It’s a conversation that can move culture forward by deconstructing its main concerns; contemplating different perspectives; focussing in on values, stories, and what seems to matter most (Notes Two).

That’s clearly a process that stands back from life, the artist being this slightly removed figure who sees life differently and offers their view of things to challenge or enrich the understanding of others. Maybe a ‘good artist’ is someone saying what others are ready to hear, someone grasping the most pertinent issues and tapping into the feeling of their age.

Yet it’s something we can all do: express our views, craft an image in response to modern life, draw to ourselves those forms and symbols we feel best represent how we want to be seen (Notes Three). We’re under such pressure to be intensely aware of image and highlight our alignment with certain causes, interests or agendas. Life becoming this finely honed mask we use to personal or social ends.

So the field of art is presumably now a little inundated with individual perspectives plus all those constantly shifting trends and updates that feed the industries they sustain (Notes Four). Within all that, does art stand out as different and can it still offer valuable insight into society?

For me, it comes back to this question of what lies within this process of reflecting on how we live: this detached exploration that seeks to influence society only through creating greater awareness of itself. Can art give answers; can it tell us what to think or what conclusions to reach? Or does it serve us better by simply showing reality in a new light, offering a fresh or timely perspective?

Our individual relationship to art and the artistry we employ in self-image may reflect more our personal concerns and priorities; beyond that, there’s surely this sense of where we are as a society and the conversation we’re having at that level. But, even there, can art ever do more than let us see things for what they are?

Often it seems we want artists to be activists; to give solutions alongside their perception of reality. Yet maybe, as with the Sphinx, that’s never quite been the role of cultural life? That said, hopefully art can still break through the seemingly endless chatter and distraction of life with something powerful enough to stop us in our tracks if that’s truly what society needs.

Notes and References:

Note 1: How well does art relate to life?
Note 2: Culture, art & human activity
Note 2: Aesthetic value of nature
Note 3: Thoughts on art & on life
Note 3: Fashion, self & environment
Note 4: Culture selling us meaning
Note 4: Missing something with modern culture?
Note 4: Art, collaboration & commodification
Note 4: How it is / Selling out

Art, in my eyes, is like thought: it’s the ideas behind things, the meanings and relationships hiding beyond what we see; and it offers the opportunity to think more conceptually about life than mere thought might allow. Like an embodying of thought with image, so we can look at it differently and maybe understand on a deeper level than simple observation.

While the art world may be this exclusive place full of its traditions and terms, art itself seems a fundamental human function and one capable of instigating important conversations about life and the ideas that guide us (see Notes One).

Figuring out where art sits within modern society is interesting though, as we clearly live in times that are saturated with imagery and ideas that flit around so fast with varying levels of intention, responsibility and skill. Our visual landscape is essentially occupied by commercial interests or others trying to capture attention and cause us to buy into their way of thinking (Notes Two).

As with so much, the challenge seems to be one of discernment: almost anything’s possible, with the barriers of technique and audience largely overcome; but what holds real value for us, what is truly meaningful?

It’s quite a fascinating question on many levels. These days we can all churn out pictures, facts, opinions, thoughts; choosing from all we now know, all we can conceivably care about, and all the new ways of presenting things (Notes Three). There’s this almost endless font of content as we pick over the past, the present, the future, and wave upon wave of trends blended together from the accumulated riches of human civilisations.

Almost like all knowledge and capability has been placed in our hands, where we can make it our own and present that as our perspective, our identity, and our presence. And in a way that’s great, as we all have unique insights and a desire to participate in the social and cultural life of modern humanity; but it must also blur the lines around art.

I mean, we’re all artists in a sense: we look at life, we form our ideas and our personal identity, then we create an image to present to the world through our clothing, belongings, Instagram, persona, interiors, or whatever else. Life becomes our canvas.

And that’s where modern life gets kind of interesting to me: in how so many barriers have been removed within a relatively short space of time. All the traditions, constraints, and expectations that once held societies and individuals quite clearly in place. As if we lifted barriers that once held back distinct bodies of water, leaving them to churn together and find a new level.

Life has changed, and I wonder at times if art risks being swamped as these distinct cultural conversations get swept up with tides of opportunity, novelty, and the clamour for attention or profit. Wondering, and maybe worrying, about what might be lost in the time it takes to find our bearings once again.

Notes and References:

Note 1: How well does art relate to life?
Note 1: Culture, art & human activity
Note 2: Art, collaboration & commodification
Note 2: Culture selling us meaning
Note 3: History as a process of changes
Note 3: Pre-tech in film

Ideas around what happens when the world we perceive becomes darker are explored further within Aesthetic value of nature.

Ideas around the role of culture within human society and how it relates to or shapes what we are doing and how we perceive it have woven through a few posts here so far (see Notes One).

At times, I’ve considered how culture seems to arise in relationship with nature and the world around us; helping us make sense of that world and find our way within it, both practically and imaginatively. Stories we tell can help us find peace and act wisely in relation to what surrounds us, whether we’re talking about other people within society or the environment in which we coexist.

Elsewhere I’ve talked of how culture informs our views on life: providing a palette of options we might choose from in forging our own identity and understanding others. Those options might be uplifting, constructive and empowering, or they could be more despairing, critical and uncaring. There’s a lot of complexity in how we represent modern society and how, in turn, that shapes our outlooks on life.

Making sense of the vast, reciprocal role of culture in our own times and historically is a fascinating prospect. In a way it reflects the realities and concerns of society; but how it does so presumably affects those very realities over time. The channels of the human mind, and how that filters into our attitudes and actions, seem to make culture a truly living and influential part of society.

Within that bigger picture, there’s then art itself. Looking at what art offers beyond the worlds of museums, galleries and theory, I feel the above processes can there become even more abstract, direct and powerful (Notes Two). Art seems to be a way of pulling things into focus and thereby questioning aspects of society, thought, perception or meaning.

In all of this, the ideas we entertain and the activities that run alongside them seem central to human life: as social, intelligent and imaginative creatures the process of involving ourselves in these discussions of meaning has apparently always been part of how we live. Making sense of the world, taking our part in it, and relishing the enjoyment of a shared cultural life seems an essential part of being human.

Personally though, I feel modern culture is at a stage where it’s also sensible to step back slightly from the commercial concerns at play there. If culture’s such a core aspect of human society and individual meaning-making, if these are the ideas and activities shaping our sense of the world around us and our place and value within it, then I hesitate at it being directed largely by business or similar calculations.

Cultural activities seem inextricably linked with human nature, but discernment and a clear sense of our wider realities seem to be becoming more important than ever. Because culture’s also about what we end up doing: the conversations we’re having, the things we’re actively taking part in, and the extent to which all that is supporting a healthy and inclusive society.

Notes and References:

Note 1: Culture and the passing of time
Note 1: Missing something with modern culture?
Note 1: How many aren’t well represented?
Note 1: Culture selling us meaning
Note 2: The value of art in society
Note 2: How well does art relate to life?
Note 2: Aesthetic value of nature

Related to this, People, rules & social cohesion asked what keeps society together and the parts we play in that.

Previously, my thoughts on art have drifted towards concepts of meaning, cultural trends, and personal identity (see Notes One); which contains a certain truth, in that art’s hard to grasp yet also a central part of human existence. Here though I want to look more specifically at how this cultural conversation might help in how we live.

In many ways, art seems a luxury. Familiarity, appreciation and understanding of it usually stem from a certain background; and all that can appear a non-essential part of life. Discussions often become slightly inaccessible or exclusive; relying on an understanding of concepts, individuals, and historical trends. That sense of high culture, visiting galleries, or embracing artists as a statement of identity or rebellion.

The art world’s not the easiest to find your feet in, and the weight of its history and established conversations can deter many from seeking entry. But that’s more what art carries with it: accumulations of social history. As with so much in life, it’s a struggle to get past the traditions of any field of activity: certain people tend to occupy these pockets of ideas and experiences, and that largely defines the discussions that happen.

But I really feel such obstacles shouldn’t deter us from seeking an active participation in human culture, from going toward what we don’t yet know and having new conversations. Art itself is surely just a way of seeing, of creating meaning, or of balancing truth and beauty within our understanding of life. That might be a challenge to engage with, but it’s also part and parcel of human existence.

For me, art’s essentially about representing reality and thereby creating a new layer of meaning; which of course then changes that reality both through its visual presence and in the conversations it can ignite. Clearly there’s a backstory of conventions and techniques, those deeper levels of engagement that can be an obstacle but also lead to slightly different discussions; yet it’s also simply an act of perception and questioning.

Within modern society though, our visual spaces are populated by advertising, media, technology, innovation, and so on; an increased pace and volume of imagery as “art” becomes easier to produce and consume. All of which creates an additional overlay of distraction and a further need for discernment.

If we look at art as this layer of meaning, of human beings seeking to conceptualise existence and engage one another in conversation over it, then both the weight of the past and the overwhelm of the present seem to threaten that. The power of art in getting us to see differently must depend on us all looking at the same things, and on a shared sense of quality and intention.

So much works against that kind of meaningful collective conversation, whether we’re talking about art, politics or almost anything else. Modern life seems scattered, pulled back, and struggling to make connections of the intensity art genuinely seems capable of offering; which is hopefully something we can move beyond.

Notes and References:

Note 1: The value of art in society
Note 1: Art, collaboration & commodification
Note 1: How many aren’t well represented?
Note 1: Mirrors we offer one another

Also What makes a good life which, in a way, looked at life as art and at the beauty of balance.

I spoke of the commodification of artistic creativity briefly in The value of art in society, and it’s a question I want to look into further – the compromise to the artist’s voice when it’s drawn into more economic systems.

For me, art is something that brings forms and images into new relationships so that by taking them in we may come to think differently about life, perception, reality or meaning. Artists can then serve society well by leading us to reflect upon life through their own well-executed observations and concerns. I suppose art itself shows us what’s important to a society, what matters or preoccupies our minds.

Historically I suppose that at some point this activity faced the challenge of how to find a home within an increasingly economic reality, leading artists into various relationships with those able or motivated to support them in what they do. And I imagine this then influenced the nature of the art produced, a development that tells interesting stories about modern civilisation and the course we’ve taken. Art in a way walks a path alongside society, religion, nature, our explorations of the world, and our perceived place within it.

Which leads to this question of the place of art within our society: is its essential function somewhat compromised by the roles it’s come to hold? I mean, if art offers this deeper level of meaning and understanding through how it works with realities, then what does it mean if it’s bought for certain ends? Can an artist be free in what they offer if their survival hinges on pleasing the public or those offering payment?

From a slightly different perspective, what does it mean to work with others creatively? Working ‘with’ others often seems to mean working ‘for’ them: lending your voice to another’s ends. Artistry often seems placed in the service of other agendas or products; whether that’s in lending an artistic eye to serve as a lens in entertainment or consumerism, or packaging a certain style into a branding opportunity.

In creative collaborations I find myself wondering to what extent either voice truly says what it would like to – there must always be compromises and conflicting intentions or perspectives. Outcomes may be interesting in what they do end up articulating, but it seems to me it’s likely a watering down of what the separate individuals involved would say; especially when one party holds the purse strings.

It’s interesting, because we also seem to want authenticity and integrity from artists; there’s often a demand that artists be free of external obligations, and a sense of ‘selling out’ when commercial concerns step in. It’s a fascinating contradiction, as within modern life it seems the role of the artist must be to stand somewhat against the systems of our times; so the fact they’re often dependent upon those systems for their livelihood is a challenge. How can you make a living without compromising your freedom? What can you lend a voice to without undermining yourself?

Building on How many aren’t well represented? (which considered culture as creation of meaning, and our engagement with this as a society and as individuals seeking identity), this post looks more towards the world of art.

Defining what we’re talking about in terms of art can be tricky: is it self-expression, purely subjective, or is it a way of seeing and representing realities and relationships that seeks more objective meaning? It seems in some ways society has commodified and co-opted artistic creativity into economic activity, either as branding and lifestyle or within the lucrative entertainment industry. But does art itself still have intrinsic value?

In modern cultural life economic considerations seem to seek recipes, possibly at the cost of other options (see Values and the economic for more thoughts on principles underlying human activity). So is art an ongoing flow of forms and interests as society explores itself and creates meaning, or a commercial concern trading on audience behaviour? There seems a tendency to play it safe and capitalise on trends, possibly artificially amplifying certain interests rather than cultivating new ones. I question if economics should have any say in cultural life; whether money muddies the waters of what’s happening there.

With the relationship of art to society more widely, it draws on images and ideas within society but does it do so to shock, to inform, to reinforce, to challenge, to offer meaning or alternatives, or to drive certain industries and conversations? Should art ‘say anything’ in politics or social life, or is it there to reflect reality back to us in a way we may judge with fresh eyes? In seeking to say something, I feel it lose some of its power; that it might be better leaving us free to interpret and decide for ourselves.

People seem to be identifying more – and more closely – with cultural forms such as films, books and artists in attempting to create their own sense of self. Which is interesting, and possibly concerning: maybe it’s always been the case, but maybe cultural institutions held different values and intentions in the past, and maybe people did so with a different awareness as well. Is the self holding an interest, or are we creating a self out of these things?

Who’s to say the meaning of art in society, and within education it seems Arts are still at risk of falling by the wayside – nice added extras that might serve a creative career or a well-rounded personality but a less ‘sensible’ choice for today’s economic realities. It seems society generally is struggling to relate to art, as discussed in this Guardian article on the future of Art History studies.

As with so many things, it’s hard to grasp what’s really going on and what it’s all about in terms of how we live. And, as with a few posts so far, this one is attempting to explore the topic for future consideration more than to definitively master these questions.