Art Necessary?

With the down turn in the economy, we know that many things will go by the way side. More than likely, one of the programs not viewed as necessary will be funding for the arts. The question then arises are the arts necessary? What does a picture of a collection of lollipops, a picture of a giant guitar, or a poem have that make them necessary to exist? The answer lies in their nature of being shortcuts to a greater understanding. It is impossible to articulate or show the myriad of relationships that exist between objects and people and another way must be found. OMG! How sophomoric all of that was. . . Let me start again.

When I was younger (I mean really young like in my teens and twenties), I was often confused about how I felt about many things. I didn’t even know how to ask the questions to find the answers. The only thing that I found that would help me to come up with understanding what I was confused about was to write a poem or draw a picture. Not great stuff you understand. It was just another way for me to articulate my feelings. I remember one time drawing a picture of a man walking down a crooked path, but the interesting thing about the drawing was that his head was actually a huge tree that sprouted from his shoulders—no eyes or mouth—just branches. After drawing that picture, I understood that I didn’t know how to find my path or how to grow as a person. It was typical juvenile angst, but I didn’t know what I was feeling until I could represent my feelings and questions into a visual representation—a shorthand for the moment.

With all the information available on line today (a virtual library of man’s knowledge), it is even more difficult to find answers to questions that we cannot express. How can that be when we dissect everything into its constituent parts, cataloguing into smaller and finer bits? Despite this dissection, there are areas that escape our understanding on how they fit together—if they fit together. The intuition of art takes us to those indefinable places, navigating those unknown pathways. OMG . . . There I go again. Can you tell that basically I’m a nerd? I want to understand and am more than willing to stand on a soapbox to express my angst with the hopes of getting back some feedback that will aid that understanding? Or truth be told, I just like hearing what I come up with.

The true drawback to a blog is that it provides you with a soapbox without having to endure the sun, rain, and rotten fruit. It doesn’t stop anyone from hurling verbal bombs, however. Fire away! I will virtually duck out of the way. ;-)