What is art?
Mercy Tolentino Steenwyk
2/2018
Art is a piece of truth in life’s procession. It is a fragment captured and now needs to take its own place in the overarching spectrum of human life. A continuum fueled by energy elicited in the creation of art by many people in many ways in all time and in all this world.
The artist’s experiences memorialized in the painting or any form of art are realizations born in a flash of a moment but so powerful that they need to be given body and spirit else their restlessness creates an angst that’s unbearable. These become part of the force that binds us all in the passing of time. The rhythm that unleashes beauty. It is the force that binds in our pursuit of happiness.
Art is where artist and viewer share an experience though unique to each has the power to take on new meaning. It is a “visual language,” a quiet partaking in the emotions, thoughts, experiences in the passing of time. The enlightenment of truth triggering a transformation. Art empowers us to speak in images, colors, shapes, motion, composition, sounds, movement, storytelling, performance and more. Art is a visual song. It cries out a message, a feeling so that viewers may share and partake in the transformation.
Art asks the questions. It begs you to stop, listen, think, feel and do something about the moment. It awakens you - for self, society and humanity. In the continuum of our nights and days, art creates and documents history in the making against the backdrop of history already made. Art begs you to uncover the truth, to question and explore the meaning of life and celebrate.
To be continued . . .