Why art is important cont'd...

So I left off in my first part of this blog sort of "on the fence" about whether an piece of art needs to have a grand meaning in order to be a true piece of ART. But, watching the finale of "The Next Great Artist" last night, I found a truth. What a true piece of art is to me is not only just something that evokes a truth/meaning to the viewer and inspires a connection between the two but also must be technically inspiring as well. Case in point, Peragrin, the last female artist standing in the final three...she had great interpretation through objects and molds that she manipulated in one way or another. But it just felt like something was missing...besides interpreting a thought through objects, what is her artistic skill? I believe the judges may have felt the same thing as me since she did not win the competition. Same as Miles, the other runner up in the competition, who took enlarged pixelated images and displayed them through a conceptual piece. I get that, but to me the concept is what it is; the concept. He forgot the other half of his job which is to tell us the story with his skill as an artist. In my heart I believe art is more than just interpreting an idea...a true artist has to have the technical skill to bring life and humanity to the piece. I think Peragrin and Miles' pieces were more about the object and their literal translation than they themselves using their artistic abilities to subtly convey a story to the viewer.

I know two weeks ago I was critical of Abdi for the opposite reason. He has so much technical skill but he did not put any emotion or heart behind his piece. In the finale, something must have clicked for him. He was the only artist, in my mind, that used his beautiful drawing, painting, and sculpting talents and combined it with eloquent thoughts, stories, and ideas to subtly evoke our imaginations and really draw us in.

I cannot answer the question "what is art?" I don't know that it's meant to be answered and it is most definitely not my place in this world to believe i have a solid answer to that question. It's comparable to asking "is there a God?" The question alone evokes many emotions and strong opinions in people and each person has there own answer whether it is belief, disbelief, uncertainty, etc...But we all know in our hearts and minds that we are only human and we do not know. I can only try to piece together things that i am learning along the way by being the best artist i can be by being true to myself as an artist and as a person. All i can do is keep challenging myself in order to seek the truth about art and life.