Unit 7: Spirituality
A few of the artists featured in “Art:21” really helped me to make a connection between the spirituality and art. The most powerful statement, in my opinion, that was made in the video was by the young man who made the satire/critical art of the ideas of spirituality and the corporate culture. He said something along the lines of “the ambiguity is where the spiritual lies”. I myself personally identify as a spiritual person. I don’t subscribe to the beliefs of any one particular organized religion at this time, but I feel that there is something that goes beyond biology that connects us all. The concept of intuition, the internal desire to express creativity, and the inherent need to communicate with fellow man leads me to believe that there is more to life than protons and electrons. I find my beliefs lining up well with his idea that spirituality exists in the unknown or what is not understood. It is not observable by most standards, so therefore it is cloaked in ambiguity.
Art, as we have come do define it the best that we can so far in this class, is a creation that is meant to incite an aesthetic response which garners critical consideration of the how the piece relates to the individual’s world and society as a whole. The young woman who found herself coming back to micro-paintings over and over helped me to understand that art begins after the technical ability ends. Meaning, the talent or abilities of the artist do nothing to identify the artist as such. Rather, the artist’s desire to express emotion, tell a story, or make a social statement with a piece move a painting for example from a pretty decor item to a piece of art. Composition, subject, timeliness, etc; these all contribute to the ability for an artist to connect with the viewer on a fundamentally spiritual level.
Grey would suggest that this spiritual connection is because “artists develop advanced seeing because their life’s work depends on it” (86). Artists need to have a connection to the spiritual to create a meaningful aesthetic experience for the viewer. I believe that it is this connection to the spiritual that allows for artists to tap in to the creative. I think the viewer can understand of feel the spiritual, but the artist’s sees it then paints it.
I found it very interesting when you described that an artist is not classified because of her talent and abilities, but instead her ability and desire to express emotion is what really makes an artist a good artist. That is interesting to me because whenever I have observed art I have never thought that the artist was successful ONLY because of their ability to connect with their emotions but instead mostly because of there artistic abilities and technical skills. Now, I agree that these abilities and technical skills enhance the piece of art but may not be what makes the art special and magical. No matter what you’re doing creatively, emotion will always play a huge part in what you create and that’s something that you identified in your response.