“Beauty, Truth, Wonder, Love, Religion. The strange, difficult words lie at the roots of the most curious of all the activities of mankind: Art”
William Orpen
From the beginning, man has always had the impulse to create. But apparently, creation for the sake of mere utility did not satisfy him. And so, he embarked upon an eternal quest for beauty- creating things for sheer mental pleasure. And thus, Art was born. Perhaps this propensity to create, to innovate and drift away from the conventional and mundane is ingrained in us. Or in other words we can say that the Creator has blessed each one of us with a creative faculty; i.e., to create and to appreciate creation. God has made each one of us an Artist; maybe some more gifted than others, but the fundamental quality of an artist is present in each and every one of us- the quest for Beauty. One needs only to realize and acknowledge this fact.
Who is it then, who tells you what is beautiful and what is ugly-looking, who guides you through your selection of matching dresses or jewellery, the colour, the style, the genre, the context, and the infinite shades and variants thereof, who teaches you to adorn your living room with art-pieces and paintings and wall colour and appropriate furniture, who prompts you to beautify your body with cosmetics and hairstyles and grooming, to tattoos, piercings, designer stubbles etc, and who makes you feel attracted towards good looking people, or for that matter, any beautiful thing? It is the Artist within you.
Art expression does not imply just making of a beautiful painting, sculpture, or any piece of art; the actual art process extends much further and deeper. Art creation and art appreciation are the two poles of the phenomena of Art Expression, which is an unbroken link of communication that starts in the mind of the artist and culminates in the mind of the viewer. It commences with the imagining and visualizing of the Beautiful, that translates into an Artwork at the hands of the artist, which in turn is assimilated by the viewer, by the acknowledgement and appreciation of the beautiful. And this aesthetic judgment is present in each one of us. We often deny this truth by simply saying, “I don’t even know the A of art,” or “I can’t even draw a straight line. Art is out of my league.” But this is not true. Your hand may not be artistically trained, but remember, true art exists only in the mind. Your aesthetic judgment is the artist in you. You need to only hone this power by seeing and appreciating more and more art. Artistic susceptibility leads to artistic visualization, and that in turn is the first step towards becoming an artist; rest, is all practice.
Trust the artist within you. Do not curb its call. Let it spread its wings of imagination and fly high. You’ll realize that this world is much more beautiful.
by Mr. Sunny
Teacher at The Lexicon School