Friday, February 25, 2011

Does ART have a purpose?

Does ART have a purpose? I think it does. We create art to express feeling, delight the soul, challenge the mind, and satisfy the hunger for “something deeper.”  Art seemingly has no purpose. Yet art is fascinating to most of us.
(above "HADES" Painted for BLAB WORLD, The "afterlife" issue, 2011)

As children we have a profound yearning to ‘create’, ... to externalize our visions. The creation of Art reaches a deep place within our humanness. Seeing the artistic creations of others also pulls at this cord. Artistic creation is a special spark that exists within us. Allowed to grow, this spark can become our brightest light!

This need to create and express is unique and instinctive to the human animal, and our animal progenitors. ART is the foundation for all the cultures and civilizations of the Earth. All that man has accomplished, including the domination of the planet, has its
roots in our need to create art and materialize our imaginings.

The creation of Art predates language and civilization.  The pinnacle of creative thought is ART. All other creative manifestations spring from this. This unique sense of "creation of creations sake" is what separates us from all other living things.

Our artistic individuality separates us from the ants or the wasps. These insects are simple automatons working in altruistic bliss for the good of a hive civilization.  We have the "hive instincts"  and altruistic impulses that drive the ants, but we also have something more. Each of us possesses a unique identity. We cherish and cultivate our uniqueness. I see this as a clue to our past and to our future.

The ant civilization has remained the same for millions of years. However, the state of humanity is constantly changing and evolving. The difference is our artistic disposition. This difference will eventually bring us to a destiny almost beyond our own imaginations.

We are the greatest creation of nature, the ultimate evolutionary experiment. We have a property which no other evolutionary experiment has ever had, ART. As artists, We want to create our own worlds, like a God. We cannot command the seas to rise or the mountains to move ... However, we can draw and paint these things!

With our creative technologies we may soon self evolve into something much more than we are today. Using our imaginations and our combined abilities we will make ourselves over in our images of Gods. This in fact, may be our destiny. To become all knowing. To become immortal. Perhaps the only way to prove the existence of God is to become God. We have had this potentiality since the first rude sketch brought joy to the heart of Adam. Through our art we may become immortal creatures.