What Attracts
I'm kind of curious what attracts people to art - I know that sounds kind of like a silly question but I really mean, specifically. Do people turn to art for entertainment - as a form of distraction, or is it a form of focus? Some of the work I'm very drawn to is for example Ellsworth Kelly, one piece in particular captivates me - it is 'Electric Blue' - I have a hard time explaining why. It is simply a large blue square, hung so that it hangs like a diamond. Is it the exact proportion? It doesn't translate on a computer screen so don't bother trying to get a sense of it there. I do believe that it is no exaggeration to say I could look at that piece longer than the Mona Lisa - is that strange? I'm also a big fan of Jonathan Borofsky - I really like in particular how he would dream, or write down some silly little part of his dream and then make that into an art piece. Who else? Malevich - he was a Russian artist who created these things he called Suprematist compositions - and my favorite among them was 'White on White' - Malevich believed that 'the object in itself was meaningless ... the ideas of the conscious mind are worthless' - on a conscious level, I disagree with what he is saying - although I could probably ramble on and parse that sentence for several paragraphs as to why what he is saying falls apart - but still, the work itself I find hypnotic and magnetic - there is something so still in that and the Kelly piece - it does remind me so much of a line by Vernon Howard 'Man fears nothing more than his own silent mind'. Me, I kind of like it - I've always loved nothing more than working in my studio making a piece that takes on a life essence in a way. It is like a thought crystal that finds its way into the physical realm - the work takes on an emotive energy when it begins to push back. Often times I'm not even sure if I 'like' a piece that I've made but often I can't stop looking at it for quite a while and wondering where it came from. I'd love to hear what draws people to art.
1 Comments:
Actually, that is a great question. I think that there is art and then there is ART. Some paintings, say, captivate and I have to stand a stare too. Or a sculpture in a garden might make me cry... Evoke might be a good word to use. ART evokes! That is a good bumper sticker. Paintings, sculptures, etc. amaze me that like other art forms--poetry, stories, songs, plays, etc.-- are gone once they are over. But ART stays and lingers and is THERE.
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