Week One: What is Art For?

I strongly believe that in each of us resides a biological imperative to create. Create anything. We all do it. A delicious steak dinner. Furnishing a home. Painting a picture. Writing a poem. Doodling on the margins of a notebook during class. Playing piano at the EMU. We are constantly, and often unaware of the fact, that we create things day in and day out. For me, food is art, a creative expression of what we are craving in a certain moment; we take the ingredients from our fridge or pantry and create a meal that we think we will enjoy. Same as in traditional art, if you have the inherent urge to paint or draw, you take your canvas and your paints and create something that you think you (and possibly others) will enjoy. Sometimes there is well-thought out intention behind our creations, and other times we simply create to create. To express ourselves. That said, I think there is inherent intention behind art. Whether that intention is for pure enjoyment, a need to express individuality, or based in a manner based more on socio/cultural awareness, intention is always there. Even for those who create simply to create, I think it can be argued that there is intention in the act itself; the fact that one sits down with pen and paper in hand to draw or write is the intention in and of itself.  Sometimes that's the only intention; to simply get it out of your mind and on to paper.

In Conversations before the end of time, Ellen Dissanayake says there's an imperative biological need "in human behavior that wants to make special things you care about, to show your regard for them" (42). I think this is true. We all want to make things special. If we weren't actively trying to "make special" things in our life, it'd be mundane and boring. There'd be no purpose in life, no zest, no spark, nothing to excite us, nothing to explore, nothing to question. Art is for making things special. Art is for making us special. Art is for connecting us to those around us, for engaging in a dialogue with the world, within our own mind, and to connect us to others and most importantly to ourselves.  ED says, "When you have the time to think about it, then you see within a particular experience, for example, that something someone else says suddenly connects, something you read about connects, something you remember from a long time ago connects: that, in a way, is making your experience special. That's making an art work out of your experience; it's what artists do when they make art" (44). This really resonates with me. I think, ultimately, art is for the creator and the connectedness that the creator feels in the moment they are creating something special. This idea of connectedness, the layers upon layers and experiences among experiences that connect us, seems to be a driving force behind many talented artists. For Ty, it seems that for her art is something she feels she has to do. A way to connect with herself, and to connect particular experiences of her past with experiences in her present, as seen in the transcription of her food journals onto the walls in her studio. It seems being an artist is something imperative for her sanity, a way of expressing her feelings through whichever medium strikes her in a certain moment or time in her life.

So art is crucial to our biological survival. Yes, that's a fairly blunt and perhaps overly simplified statement I'm making. But I'm talking about all kinds of art; encompassing any act or expression of oneself through a creative medium, whether that be through video camera, music, painting, writing, cooking, it is a biological imperative we are inherently born with. For an artist, the need to create and explore is often seen through an intensification of expression, an intensification of questions, answers, and connectedness through a certain platform. For the average Joe, the creativity and expression of individuality may manifest itself in other ways. But for all of us, there's the need for art. So that's what art is for. Us. All of us. And it's critical to our livelihood.


Tonight, for me, this is art: http://aurgasm.us/2009/02/the-american-dollar/