What Art Means to Me
Subjective Opinions — A Counter Arts Prompt Response
No matter the medium (digital, physical, technological, or abstract) tell us what does art mean to you? Or what was the first memorable encounter with the medium you most keep close to?
Or, what is the meaning of this all?
What is the meaning, indeed, Ms. Squeeze the Avocado?
Honestly, I have no fucking idea. This seemed like a simple prompt at first, and then I drove an hour to work thinking about it the whole way.
Art is subjective. It’s hard to verbalize what it means to us. The above picture, drawn by my precocious daughter at a restaurant at the beach, is a moment captured. When I see it, I know where we were, and remember how it felt for her to look at me as proud as could be through her tired, salt-water-burned blue eyes.
It it Art? Absolutely. It’s how she expressed herself in that moment.
Do you remember the scene from American Beauty (late 90s, y’all) where the dude cries over filming the plastic bag blowing in the wind? It was a fleeting but strikingly beautiful moment:
It was one of those days when it’s a minute away from snowing and there’s this electricity in the air, you can almost hear it. Right? And this bag was just dancing with me. Like a little kid begging me to play with it. For fifteen minutes. That’s the day I realized that there was this entire life behind things, and this incredibly benevolent force that wanted me to know there was no reason to be afraid, ever. Video’s a poor excuse, I know. But it helps me remember… I need to remember… Sometimes there’s so much beauty in the world, I feel like I can’t take it, and my heart is just going to cave in. — Source
Art is the representation of a feeling. Of time’s passage. A memory. An energy captured in some tangible way. And it’s a transferable energy.
There’s beauty inherent in everything. When I donate my kids’ old toys, I feel a deep sadness because of what they represented: joy, love, time, happiness. loss, hope, etc. Or maybe I’ve seen too many Toy Story movies.
Regardless, the Japanese concept of monozukuri comes to mind, which is essentially an appreciation of many things that go unseen or unthought of. More literally, it’s about manufacturing processes that take amazing thought and attention to detail, like the design of a shampoo refill that coats the inside of the foil pack and uses origami folding to minimize the wasted shampoo.
Early in life, I learned to express myself through a musical medium, but now have all-but abandoned performing. My earliest memories of life are still packed with melodies, some that have since been lost to the ether. Literally today I heard a song I hadn’t heard in thirty years that I used to play with my grandfather, and I knew he passed it on to me. It floated around in the universe and found its way back to me. Memories of moments playing guitar with my father and grandfather still stir something deep in my soul.
When performing or displaying a creation, sometimes your emotions are translated to others, sometimes they are not. What IS expressed is the energy. I firmly believe in the conservation of energy, meaning that the energy we put into the world never dies — it just changes form. My love for the craft of music remains, but my passion has shifted to other forms.
That infinite energy will always find a path. Because Art is a manifestation of a feeling trying to get out.
The point is that Art is everywhere and everything. To me, it’s not one thing. It’s a bit of everything life can mean. Art is the energy trying to find a conduit. It’s a consciousness. It’s a connection to others. It’s both the expression and recognition of sounds, words, sights, feelings, thoughts, moments, time, everything, nothing, life, death, light, dark, sadness, passion, ideas, dreams, and, above all—infinite beauty in all of it.
But that’s just my humble opinion.
I’d love for a few of you to take a stab at this one. Absolutely no pressure. Ignore me if you will. Kasey Sparks, Amanda Wilson, Zsófia Vera, Angelina Der Arakelian, Benedict Flett, Will Hull, May More, Lonnie McFadden, Charlie Tango, Samantha Drobac, Posy Churchgate, Mary DeVries, Arthur Dewson.
The original prompt:
