Art is dead. Make art anyway.
On the transformative power of a individual's creative pursuit, and utilizing art to bypass consumerism
There is a rumor that art is dead. This rumor has actually been circulating for hundreds of years. Art was declared dead when the first daguerreotype was exposed. Nietzsche pronounced god as dead in 1882. Poetry and painting have also been pronounced dead. Some have been anxious about the death of art with the recent emergence of AI generated images. And yet we continue to make art, write poetry and find new ways of worship. The artforms never die, but our societal perceptions of their functions and limitations do. The art and the artist must find a form that responds to the needs of their time. Let’s assume that art as we know it has died. If the era of prestige and grandiosity of easel painting that dominated the world of art has come to an end, what comes next? I might propose a return to the art that came before it: the art of ordinary people.
We are all born with an incredibly heavy burden of being human. Most are born into circumstances we feel powerless over. We are swept up in the chaos of life, and our limited energy and resources are mostly devoted to our survival. In order to overcome this state, we must find a center within ourselves where we can make decisions that are in line with our most sincere desires. If one does not forge their own path, they are fated to accept the values of consumerism and mindless productivity from the greater culture as their own. Pursuing a creative life will often mean that we find ourselves in precarious financial situations; we may be uninsured, housing insecure and aimless. So how do you live? How do you forge your own path? I believe that the universal answer to these questions is simply to become an artist. Not in the sense that you have to become a career artist. If art is to survive, I believe we need to abandon this as a metric we use to measure the value of what we make. Instead we might measure how much our art connects us to others, and how our art clears the muddy waters of our ego to allow us to know our true selves.
I was never fully present in my life until I held a consistent art practice. Before I was committed to being an artist, my daily life was devoted to tuning out the world around me. My life force was spent entirely on an effort to distract myself from my surroundings; netflix, nightlife, substance abuse, etc. Art is what called me to direct my attention outward. Looking back on myself at the beginning of my practice, I can look upon my early artwork with a kinder eye. This transition from living passively and moving towards a life where I was actively engaged with my surroundings and trying to make meaning of it was incredibly difficult–but it brought me back into a state of living.
For much of my art practice within the first few years, I struggled against the ugliness I saw in my surroundings. When I went out into the world to find subject matter to study in my sketchbooks, I found little beauty to replicate. When I did find a rare moment of beauty, my technical skill did not live up to my standards. I soon realized that becoming an artist meant a lot more than simply duplicating reality—art requires that you engage with reality on a much deeper level than we are usually encouraged to. It requires that we engage with reality as it really is. Art is our best tool to challenge our objective reality and collectively push towards something different. Our art calls into question more than our aesthetic tastes, but more importantly, our art calls us to ask deeper questions of the soul.
What is missing from public life? Beauty, fun, generosity? all of the above? Become an artist and add what you feel is missing. As artists we are no longer bound to this singular objective reality that we share. I can now see past the barren urban landscapes that surround me and imagine something different. It seems that most people we interact with are content to accept the brutal realities in which we live; the traffic, the loss of beauty and loss of our natural world. If you are not so willing to accept these things, it is likely that you are an artist as well. Art as we have known it may well be dead. In this age, where the grandeur of galleries and the spectacle of art auctions feel increasingly detached from our lived experiences, it becomes vital to rediscover the intimacy of the tangible—through the arts of embroidery, crochet, and mending a shirt, we can use art and craft as a tool to push culture towards a direction that serves our greatest good. The death of art means that the power of creation is restored to everyone.
Oh yes! Absolutely, I am with you 1000% This is what I write about all the time. If we try and frame art within capitalism and patriarchy, it makes no sense. But as a means to self and collective liberation, it is everything. Thank you for writing this piece.
Love this, esp this line: "Art requires that you engage with reality on a much deeper level than we are usually encouraged to."
Also, don't forget that books are dead, libraries, newspapers, and the music industry :)