Art Beat: Art for art’s sake, for all our sake

Since the first cave paintings, we have drawn pictures. Since the first words formed out of grunts and growls, we have been speaking to one another. We have been singing songs as long as there have been ears to listen to, and we will continue to weave stories together like wicker baskets or animal skin boots.

Like the soles of our feet, the souls of our hearts can take us across great distances with a little bit of protection and enough room to breathe and bare it all out there every once in a while.

If we stay true to ourselves, we can protect our identities and our deepest desires will one day be heard by those who can truly appreciate the echoes of our very existence. We enjoy listening to other people and watching what they can do because it makes us feel less alone.

I’d say that creativity is best enjoyed with others but the most important thing is to know what your inner voice is first. Once march to the beat of your own drum, a parade will form around. You’ll smile as you see familiar faces and new people around every corner, singing along with the tune of your frail and mortal life here on Gaia.

Life’s fragility is what makes it so special. The fact we can lose it all in instant is the bittersweet truth of it all. Whatever happens after, ask anybody else but me, because I have no clue.

All I know is we only have so much time on our soul’s parking meter. We all have to leave this parking spot we call life one way or another. So, we might as well try our best to enjoy the creations of others, and we should all remember to savor the stories we share with each other.

Whatever realm awaits us in the hereafter is up for debate, but the fact we have the time to think about it, the colors paint about it, and the words to sing or write about it is clear enough what we should do. I think it’s pretty obvious by looking around that we all appreciate art in one way or another because art is the very essence of the human experience.

Life is art. Art is life. It’s the Force. It surrounds us. It’s with us, always.

I’ve arranged some quotes across the periods of time to finish what I’m getting at.

Beginning with audacity is a very great part of the art of painting.

— Winston Churchill

The goal of life is rapture. Art is the way we experience it. Art is the transforming experience.

— Joseph Campbell

Creativity is allowing oneself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.

— Scott Adams,

“A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.”

— George Bernard Shaw

What is possible in art becomes thinkable in life.

— Brian Eno

“Creativity takes courage. ”

— Henri Matisse

“The arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven’s sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possibly can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something.”

— Kurt Vonnegut

“If we, citizens, do not support our artists, then we sacrifice our imagination on the altar of crude reality and we end up believing in nothing and having worthless dreams.”

— Yann Martel

“One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.”

— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“Paradoxically though it may seem, it is nonetheless true that life imitates art far more than art imitates life.”

— Oscar Wilde

“It is good to love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is well done.”

— Vincent Van Gogh

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reporter Jacob Mann at jacob.mann@frontiersman.com