Art Is

Art is. Art is a means through which ideas, emotions, lines, colors, stories, melodies, rhythms, and all of the other complexities and simplicities of life have an opportunity to come together. Art is expression, relationship, communication, distraction, influence, and play. Art can change the world in the micro and the macro. Art impacts those who create it, those who experience it, and those who avoid it. Art fills a void created when we focus on literal, tangible, mathematical and scientific explanations of the world we live in and the ways we inhabit that world. Yet art is not counter to the literal, tangible, mathematical and scientific explanations of this world, it is a companion that can partner with these methods of understanding to open up new ways of exploring and engaging this world.

Art is not necessary in the strictest definition of what is needed to sustain human life and yet it is an imperative if that human life is to grow into the fullness of existence that it has the potential to experience and become. Art is a tool to understand the world around us, the world hiding within our own persons and the web of relationships that creates the world in which we move and live out our daily living. Art can be weapon, unintentionally when used without thought and consideration for the context in which it is created and shared, and intentionally when it is used to perpetuate ideals that violate and degrade. This potential of art should not prevent us from embracing art as a whole, instead it is a reminder that in all things there is a potential for violence and suffering and without acknowledgment of that potential, the potential for good can not be fully engaged.

Art offers us a voice, a method of expression when words, calculations and suppositions fall short of satisfactory explanations of that which makes up our experiences. Art is a balm for wounds so deep that hope of healing is only a distant glimmer. Art is a prophetic voice in times of drought calling the waters of change down from the mountain and up from the depths. Art is joy, laughter and tears made manifest in ambiguity so as to offer a unique experience to each participant in each moment of encounter.

These are reasons that I say art is. Very often one of the key questions of art appreciation is “what is art?” and while I explore what is art, I believe the most effective way to engage, explore, and grasp all that art has, will, and can offer is to start with the certainty that art is.