Visiting a fine art studio to view some original works – the philosophy of art

Art imitates life. Life is art. The art of living, and the life of an artist – all of this is visible in today’s video clip here. I recently went to visit a local art gallery in a nearby town called Plettenberg Bay on the south Cape coast of Africa. The view is also a work of art curiously.

Life can be artistically inspiring and also art can inspire us to live more creatively. There is a reciprocation back and forth. The ancient truth is that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Art is a subjective thing. Plato said art played to our emotions, rather than our reason. He was more focused on reason, and not into art that much.

What is the use of art? Is it an escape, an amusement, as some philosophical types might think? Art for art’s sake, is one way you might perceive it. Fine art particularly, appeals to the right hemisphere of the brain, the visual side, as opposed to the logical and rational side. And both are important in a balanced and whole life.

Traditionally, in previous historical times, society was mostly spiritually focused, and all art was religious, depicting religious views. The sacred eventually became the profane, as divinity and deity grew less important with time. Art is essentially able to make us feel emotions. It allows us to tap into our feeling part of the brain. This is obviously true of movies or books which tell stories of course.

Before their invention we had the story teller around the fire in more primitive times, perhaps narrating a drama, or even dancing out a pastime, painted with pigment and decorated with curious dress. This is art, as well as a practical spiritual ritual or depiction or expression of something sacred. This type or art is still to be found in the ritual and dress of Catholicism, for example.

Other than that, art today is purely mundane and materially motivated. It is either for making money, or it’s a hobby and part of a need for creative expression, art for art’s sake again. It seems that we have an inherent human need to express ourselves creatively through art, with no other motivation.

As such life is an expression of art, all humans are artists because we all have the ability to create as well as the desire to be creative. It simply expresses itself in different ways. We go through phases of a need for creative expression, sometimes appearing through music, dance, writing or visual. But we all express ourselves creatively somehow or other. Our creative need, as emerging from our right hemisphere of the brain, is always present.

Modern society has pushed us to focus on the priority of survival, which means earning our daily bread comes first. Artistic creative expression comes second. Sometimes they can be dovetailed or linked, which means becoming a professional artist. That may be the best outcome for a creative mind – to be able to make money for survival from our artistic expression our output.

Here in today’s video, I walk around an art studio and gallery of one of the local artists. You can see the works hanging up on the wall. Have a look and see what you think, or should I say feel. Curiously art changes over time. What was appreciated as aesthetically pleasing may shift over time, based purely on our knowledge and experience. Culture shifts like fashion. So is art truly in the eye of the beholder? Perhaps it is. But then the eye is linked to the mind which can be influenced by your society.

So art is highly subjective. However, in nature we see timeless images or impressions which are all attractive to the eye of the beholder. This may be based on geometry, and specifically ratio and proportion. And this appeal or attractiveness is now based on rationality or logic or the left hemisphere of the brain. For example a beautiful sunset, clouds, flowers, the human form – all of these are timelessly aesthetically appealing, based on ratio and proportion, as well as color and line.

You may have heard of the Fibonacci ratio, or Golden Ratio, which is a natural divide of shapes. Wherever it is found throughout nature, the eye and brain finds it attractive and pleasant or artistically appealing. So it seems that art appreciation, or aesthetics, is based on both hemispheres of the brain. Also true beauty is culturally biased but also timeless. These are all philosophical questions or opinions around art, and aesthetics. It’s a hugely subjective subject, but it does have a logical or technical foundation to it too. The beauty of art is that it inspires us toward our own further creativity and expression, as well as making our life more picturesque. Art can never be separated from life. Life is art. You are a work of art, as well as the artist.

(image pixabay)