not just a man’s name: it’s something that i find gives my life meaning. i define art as the product of a creative process whose purpose is to communicate a non-trivial message in a non-literal way through the use of symbols and metaphor. this is to say: creating a stop sign is not art: it communicates a message all right, but it’s: neither a non-trivial message (traffic is, in the final analysis, trivial—relatively speaking i mean) nor is it anything but hopelessly literal. it also does not employ either symbols or metaphor.
it’s debatable whether poetry or painting is the earliest form of art practiced by humanity. after all, painting merely requires pigments and a cave wall, whereas poetry requires language. i believe that most scientists feel the former is more likely to have preceded the latter than vice versa. that said, as a writer, i’m happier and more comfortable talking about words and writing than i am about pigments, hues and shapes—after all, i’m partially color-blind.
one of my all-time favorite movies is dead poets society, a film in which, in case you aren’t familiar with it, a teacher at an exclusive prep school ignites a fire for poetry in the hearts of his class of adolescent boys. i love this film because not only is it among one of robin williams’s first dramatic roles (who knew?) but there’s so much poetry, cited of course in and out of the classrooms. there’s some great performances as well, not just by williams but by others, including a very young ethan hawke, and some damned fine writing.
in the film, williams’s character gets a line i love and it goes to the effect of this: engineering, law, science, these things are all necessary for sustaining life; but poetry is what makes life worth living. and he’s absolutely right.
obviously, one does need to address the matter of making a living: that goes without saying, esp if you have kids. no duh. most folks wind up having kids at some point, either biologically or otherwise, and they manage.
so what about when you do? once you can meet the simple, logistical needs that living in the world requires of you, what then?
words have power. and while it’s certainly only a power we choose to give them (there’s a reason why no matter how grievously someone insults you, taking a swing at him or her is still considered assault in penal code), we all grant words some power. if you don’t believe me, look at the word “fuck”. we all know the word, although our respective attitudes towards it may range from distant, strained relations who recoil from the very mention to something as familiar as an old family friend who has a spare key to your home.
working with words, crafting words, bending them to your will, shaping them to your need: as much fun as this may be, it is merely technique: simple wordsmithing pyrotechnics, while great to look at, aren’t enough to qualify as art. without a message, as i mentioned at the beginning, technique is merely a process. it may be a beautiful one, but that’s all it is.
no, to be art, it has to communicate something, there has to be a message. george orwell’s 1984 is a biting commentary on the former USSR and its unique brand of socialism. margaret atwood’s the handmaid’s tale is a dystopic cautionary tale about the dangers of totalitarianism and how democracy is lost. sinclair lewis’s the jungle is a scorching expose of the then-realities of the american meat-packing industry that led to the creation of a whole federal government agency.
if you’re engaged in the creative process as someone who creates something, i want you to ask yourself a question: are you a technician or an artist?
yes, it’s immodest to lay claim that title. of course it is! when we think of artists, we think of degas, monet, rembrandt—or if you prefer: shakespeare, milton, wordsworth. that’s heady company and it takes a certain degree of ego to say “my ambition has that company in its crosshairs. i have that company in my crosshairs.” but i think that we all owe it to ourselves to dream big. after all, if your dreams are small, where’s the challenge in accomplishing them? i’m not content with small dreams, with everyday dreams, with the normal. in some fundamental way, i simply don’t understand people who are.
maybe i’m the weirdo. maybe i’m arrogant. maybe i’m just a hopeless dreamer. to that, i say this: it does neither myself nor others any harm to advocate this thinking. indeed, i would argue that maybe society simply doesn’t encourage us to do this enough.
so am i being incredibly pretentious by trying to define art? does this make sense? comment and tell me.
ed
silverwhisper posted on Aug 08, 2006
| views: 298
Comments
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jaxx said on Aug 08, 2006....
to each his own of course you can define art your way. but personally i dont think the definition of art is very distinct. its a very broad topic isnt it? -
carmachu said on Aug 08, 2006....
Art, nowadays, sucks ass. What passes for art either has an agenda, or is trying for shock value. bah. -
pinkjellybeans said on Aug 08, 2006....
I agree that society doesn't do much to encourage us these days. We are made to feel naive and gullable if we dare to have such dreams. If a child tells his parents he dreams of being a rock star, even then, at a young age, he is told to think of something else, such as a doctor or fireman. Why are our dreams dampened in such a way? I have never been scared of dreaming big. Each and every day I strive to reach my goal - and, one day, I will. And, I would definitely have to give society the V sign if they were to try and discourage me. PinkJellyBeans -
silverwhisper said on Aug 08, 2006....
jaxx: yeah, it [i]is[/i] very broad, so a little vagueness is unavoidable, i think. carmachu: i think a lot of the problem right now is art critics. :> pinkjellybeans: absolutely--who in the hell wants small dreams?! :> ed -
CreativeWoman said on Aug 08, 2006....
I play with words every day. Writing is part of who I am. I write a lot of poetry and greeting card type things. I enjoy creating things that twist the meanings of words and I enjoy creating things that bare my soul. I guess that's my own personal style of art. -
FaithfulDisciple said on Aug 09, 2006....
Art is merely an expression of the soul. If the message of the soul is clearly communicated in a very descriptive and precise manner with the use of sophisticated techniques as conveyed by its author, then that art work becomes a masterpiece and the author becomes an artist. To the writer, words are as colors are to the painter. His creative use of words convey the story in his perception as a painter's creative use of colors portray the portrait in his interpretation. A story much like a painting is worthless without the soulful impressions of its creator. Here at Soulcast, there is a place to bear your soul to strangers for everyone to take notice of, how it is conveyed is what differentiates the amateurs from the master writers. You SW are one of those writers who elevate blogging into a higher form of art. -
hotaka said on Aug 09, 2006....
I heard some good advice once about being an artist. It is better to let other people view your work and call you an artist. The artist should never refer to himself (or herself) as an artist. -
silverwhisper said on Aug 10, 2006....
FD: you are altogether too kind, sir. i think the same of you, sir. hotaka: i believe that there's a perception that when you call yourself an artist you're being arrogant or pompous. i think that's perception is dead wrong. if we allow others to elevate the word into some exalted state, we run the risk of failing to understand something elementary about art: that it's ultimately democratic. someone from the projects has just as much potential to be an artist as someone from the most exclusive suburbs. i for one refuse to allow people to exalt a term so exclusively that it becomes impossible to use it. ed -
hotaka said on Aug 10, 2006....
Good point. But I think the term artist is in now danger of being exalted too highly. Genius is another word that gets over-used but is still just as relevent for the people who are one. And like you said about artists, geniuses can come from any corner of town and country. -
silverwhisper said on Aug 11, 2006....
that's a fair point, hotaka and i agree it too is being made too exclusive. ed -
Zayda said on May 22, 2008....
Silverwhisper quoth:no, to be art, it has to communicate something, there has to be a message
An instruction manual for a VCR communicates something. A sales letter for a lower interest rate credit card communicates something, A blog post communicates something.
Are you willing to call each and every one of those pieces of writing art and the people who create them artists
You're oversimplifying too much.
Silverwhisper quoth:working with words, crafting words, bending them to your will, shaping them to your need:Don't you mean the needs of the audience? Gifted writers, even fiction writers, focus on the needs of their audience, not simply their own needs.
Silverwhisper quoth:if you’re engaged in the creative process as someone who creates something, i want you to ask yourself a question: are you a technician or an artist?
Quite honestly, I'm neither artist or technician. I don't believe that writing is a skill or an art; it's a craft that employs both artistic elements and skilled/technical elements. Good writers have to pretty decent masters of both the artistic elements and the technical elements.
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silverwhisper said on May 23, 2008....
super z quoth:
an instruction manual for a VCR communicates something. a sales letter for a lower interest rate credit card communicates something, a blog post communicates something.
are you willing to call each and every one of those pieces of writing art and the people who create them artists?
no, i do not, as i thought most of those examples (not sure one could safely remove blog entries as a class from consideration) would have been eliminated from consideration with the second sentence of the blog entry:
i define art as the product of a creative process whose purpose is to communicate a non-trivial message in a non-literal way through the use of symbols and metaphor.
super z queried:
don't you mean the needs of the audience? gifted writers, even fiction writers, focus on the needs of their audience, not simply their own needs.
no, i do not mean that. yes, i take into account what a prospective reader might want or need, but by so doing, i am also therefore trying to remain true to my own needs as the writer.
i believe that writing is both skill and art. however, when i say that, i am speaking only of creative writing, not technical writing, as i have little real experience in the latter.
hm...i've done a very poor job with this blog entry for it to inspire the need for that much clarification on my part.
ed -
Zayda said on May 23, 2008....
You are making a vast assumption if you are assuming there is no creative process behind creating a user manual or an analytical report. In fact, you are making a vast assumption when you assume there is no creative process behind the writing that would be classified as "technical" or "scientific" writing.
BTW, technical writing can draw heavily on symbols, metaphor, and analogy.
Further, by regulating technical writing to writing that communicates "trivial" messages, you are insulting a discipline and profession in one fell swoop.
Hmmmm...
So, you don't believe any kind of writing besides creative writing is a skill and an art? Other kinds of writing are what, exactly then? Just technical skill? -
silverwhisper said on May 23, 2008....
i trust you meant "relegating" rather than regulating, as i'm not a legislative body? :>
i don't think i'm making any such statements, super z, and the last few sentence of my comment ought to make that clear. but since i keep thinking i'm being clear and failing in each such iteration if this discussion: i'm not qualified to speak about technical writing. period.
ed
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