Whether you consider yourself artist or simply just an art spectator. We all participate in the there has probably been a time in your life when a piece of art that made you feel like you wanted to change, evoked hidden emotions out of you, or even just spoke to you.
After looking back on the several occasions where I have had deep emotional connections from the art I’ve consumed, I decided to investigate the psychological side of art, how it changes perspectives, and why it is so important to our lives.
While researching I stumbled upon an article written by Claire Wu.
One of the things I enjoyed most about her article was the way she described art as a necessity and went into great detail about the psychological side of art for the artist.
For example in the article’s second category “Art as Healing” Wu spoke about artist Jengiz Mahir Musa and how he uses art as a means of survival while recovering from his past life of addiction and navigating through all the emotions that come with it.
I feel like we can all relate to this part of her article to a certain extent, because as humans use all kinds of art forms to deal with the many stresses of life and demonstrate who we are. Whether that be the music we listen to, the books we read, or even the interactions we have with others it is all art, and Wu’s article perfectly describes why art is known as an “expression”.
In another article by Bianca Vinther I was shown how art can affect our perception of reality as viewers. In the third category of her article titled “Painting how you see: the inward approach“, she expressed that the way we view art comes from within.
To illustrate this she used her perception of a tree she had seen and how she saw a part of herself in the image. By using something as simple as a tree, she proved that if we look at anything from within it can change the meaning of it completely. I really liked this part of her article because it added to my belief that art is meant to be personal. This isn’t me saying that we shouldn’t express our art to others, but instead emphasizing the fact that art itself is an experience that is meant to be personal to our individual lives.
For the final part of my research I wanted to take a step back from all the intense “deeper meaning” stuff about art and go back to the basics, and found a TED Talk by Katerina Gregos. She harped on the importance of all art forms and how dull our lives would be without them. She also went on to explain how more artists have become inspired by the reality of experiences in our everyday society.
Her explanation of art, tied the groundwork of my research into one powerful monologue. I loved the way she showed how art is connected in modern-day civilization.
To conclude, researching this topic took me through a rabbit hole of different stories, but overall they all conveyed one message; Art is human. Art has been here since the beginning of all human life, it’s a part of all human experiences, and conveys human emotions.
Even if you don’t spend hours at art exhibits every weekend or religiously study the lyrics of every song you listen to, we can all take more time to appreciate the art we see around us. Art is a necessity and personal experience that we all play a part in. And I hope by reading this helps you comprehend how much power you possess as an artist no matter what kind of art form you use to express yourself.
The Golden Thread 