-by Andy Dudas-
Insight into someone’s creative process is a rabbit hole waiting to happen. From what well does an artist draw to create? From what memory do they recall to build their craft? To where do they hope to lead or be led with and from their Art?
Nothing in this world is more subjective than Art. What it is and can be. What it was. “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” Similar takes on the same adage are worth noting: one man’s meat is another man’s poison, one man’s ceiling in another man’s floor, one man’s loss is another man’s profit, one man’s pleasure in another man’s pain… and so on.
Societal changes over the years have caused many a change in what is deemed beautiful or even acceptable in the world of Art. Easily illustrated by comparing the works of Jackson Pollack or Andy Warhol to Da Vinci and Michelangelo. Impressionistic and abstract works would most likely have seemed foreign and utterly incomprehensible to the those five hundred years ago. Conversely, works such as the Last Supper and the Sistine Chapel have endured. Easily showing the expansion of both the definition and appreciation of Art. Both through the artists and those who view their work.
Posing the question, ‘what is Art?’ isn’t as simple as it sounds. Just three words but not simple by any means. Art can be found in everything from a piece of fruit to the complexities of the human form. Art is in the ground. In the Earth. Everywhere. In the mind, the heart, and the soul. Art can bring some to tears. Of joy, of pain, of anger. Art can give us the opportunity to look inward while also challenging us to see beyond our limits.
Identifying Art can be both helpful and hurtful. Encourage someone to view something differently and to see it in a new light and call it ‘Art.’ Do not be shortsighted and do the opposite. Art is something that speaks a universal human language. Bringing people together through Art is something to which we should all aspire.
‘Reading, riting, and rithmetic‘ made no mention of Art. STEM(Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) a current acronym getting a lot of attention is helping our communities identify and direct educational needs. Some are encouraging STEM to be STEAM with the addition of Art. We should applaud those asking Art to be included as an equally important facet of education. Winston Churchill, when asked if he would cut Arts funding to aid in the war effort, replied, “Then what are we fighting for?” This quote cannot truly be attributed to Churchill. While a nice sentiment, there is no proof he ever said this. In his over fifteen million published words this phrase never came from him. He did however say,
“The arts are essential to any complete national life. The State owes it to itself to sustain and encourage them….Ill fares the race which fails to salute the arts with the reverence and delight which are their due.”
Every soul on Earth has the ability to create Art. Find your inspiration. Find what inspires you. Find your Art.
-Andy Dudas 7/20/2017
Andy Dudas has interests varying from painting and singing, to photography and prop making. Pretty much anything that has a creative element. Amateur status in all endeavors, he finds art everywhere he looks. Always seeking his next inspiration.