Short Stuff from the Southcoast, MA – I recently had a meeting with a gallery owner. It went very well thank you! While she was looking through my work, I tried to explain the time, place and thoughts that were part of the environment and reason for doing some of the pieces. I then told her how stupid I always felt doing this. Thank goodness she herself is a practicing artist because she understood.
For an artist to get into the why and what not behind a particular group or piece of work (she agreed) is well - stupid. The reason we (artists) do what we do or, did what we did, is simply because; if we could describe it – we wouldn’t be doing it! Doing art quite frankly is a way of working out a problem an artist either is or is not consciously aware of. These problems can range from (depending on the artist) visual dilemmas about weight, mass or space and color or, any variety of visual conundrums. They can also be a platform for the artist’s happiness or unhappiness. It is said that Picasso painted better in between wives and girlfriends. For him, pain was good.
However the point of all this reminds me of tasting and trying to enjoy wine. For some, it goes beyond the norm and to listen to real wine aficionados discussing wine in a manner and language that is foreign to most might just be the same reason why wine and art cost so much. Yes, this is all tongue-in-cheek here. There are so few regular folk who can understand the right-brain experience and the mumbo-jumbo of the art/wine language. Maybe that's why the high prices have to make up for the lack of volume sales.
Why can’t art (should I get real anal here and capitalize it?) be more associated with beer? Most beer drinkers are brand loyal – almost rabidly. Most beer drinkers just care about whether or not there’s enough beer to be had, if it’s cold enough and if there’s something to munch with it. No, I'm not disparaging them, I'm actually praising them! You see, wine drinkers don’t have wine munchies that come in rip-open-and-eat packaging; they have to pair the wine to whatever they put in their mouths. Of course I’m having fun with all this. But, wine and art are and can be very simple.
You either like it or you don’t. You like it because you do – end of story. Yes, knowing why you do is wonderful but you can't indoctrinate the uninitiated by making them feel alienated, or worse, stupid with all the fancy talk. Wine is nothing more than fermented grape juice! People made it and consumed it for thousands of years before wine experts and ratings. In most places, wine was safer to drink than water! They made it with whatever grapes grew where they lived.
Art perhaps had a bit loftier purpose. It was a spiritual act. Doing it or, perhaps more correctly making it made the maker happy. For the viewer, it was a shared or communal experience. Art was one of the earliest forms of non-verbal communication. It also was used to solve the proverbial problem of (because we are beings who possess self-awareness) who we are, why we’re here and whether or not we’re alone. It was also undeniably an outward expression of human intelligence and sentiment. It was both a rational and emotional activity. It was also part of our earliest attempts to control our environment. More about this at another time but, even if Annie was around way back then, they were never too sure whether the Sun would come up the next day.
Ask yourself why children are drawn (the pun is intended here) to paper and crayons as moths to a flame almost as soon as they can sit up and grasp the crayon? What is it about art that even a baby can sense (or, make sense of)? Well, maybe not all babies you say? Left Brain dominant people tend to look at parts versus the whole and demonstrate behaviors that can be considered:
- Logical
- Sequential
- Rational
- Analytical
- Objective
While Right Brain dominant individuals tend to look at the whole versus the parts and demonstrate behaviors that can be considered:
- Random
- Intuitive
- Holistic
- Synthesizing
- Subjective
But what do these behaviors mean anyway? I believe the answer is as simple as the the solution to most art/visual problems and also answers what makes a good wine – balance. What about beer? The answer is also simple. It’s – yes! The multi-part question is do you have any, what kind is it and is it cold? Benjamin Franklin who used both sides of his brain quite successfully said it best, “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.”
In either case promise yourself to learn something you didn’t know yesterday and not to get too, too snobby if and when you really, really get into wine or art (yeah, even your beer - you're not exempt). And remember, somebody really smart said, “excess is the death of pleasure,” whether your tasting/buying wine, making/buying art or talking about either one. And, yeah, some beer drinkers should take more time to enjoy what they put in their mouths and how much they drink. Everything in moderation folks!
