How to Save the World...with ART

Can we save the world with art?

Lisa's post got me thinking about the power of art and how much ESPECIALLY RIGHT NOW we need it. It's a bit sad that those things that we need most are usually the first things to disappear in troubled times. I know this is not the first time I have mentioned this, and it won't be the last, I promise.

It's almost as though I am trying to remind myself sometimes that being an artist is actually useful. I was driving in the car today talking to my fiance about why I wanted to be an artist. I simply had the ambition of making someone feel the same way I felt the first time I discovered art and certain artists. Art can save you. And it does it very randomly.



Ansel Adams made me want to see the world. Matthew Barney made me think about the materials I use when I make my own art work (I don't think this was his intention, but MAN did he waste a lot of plastic and other material in his 2006 SFMOMA exhibition--example below).



Sylvia Plath and Emily Dickenson helped me through high school. I felt less alone as I wrote dramatically.
Lee Friedlander saved me from photography class. I know that seems weird, seeing as he is a photographer himself, but check out Lee Friedlander: Self Portrait and you can see how he could open the eyes of a young photographer to the endless composition possibilities. He made it okay to break the rules. He made it okay to take photos the way I wanted to. Essentially he made me comfortable with my own self, my own style.

Has art ever saved you?

When I was in elementary school I was obsessed with Vincent Van Gogh. Maybe it was because his paintings took me to another world. I felt I could see into his imagination. I could also sense that he saw the world in a very peculiar way and as a child, and still, his work helps me realize that everything, even in its simplest form can be seen from a colorful lens.



So, again, can art save the world? I think it is a great place to start. I am always amazed at the revelations people come to standing in front of a piece of art. Successful art makes a viewer stand still and ponder. It may not be for very long, but in today's world, just getting someone to notice you or your art is something to be proud of. If art is successful and it does get someone to stop and stare and think outside of themselves for a moment I do think it can save us.

Lightbulb ideas are my favorite. I love when all of a sudden something hits me like a lightening bolt. It usually happens when I am looking at art.

Can you imagine what might happen if a bunch of economists or scientists dove deep into a museum tour? I think it would be beautiful. Seedmagazine.com recently published an article about this very subject. In it they stress the need for scientists to embrace art. I also just recently discovered this wonderful site, SYNAPSE, that connects artists and scientists in order to collaborate on projects! Just what we need and what I have been searching for. Thank you google! I better stop this post for now....it seems as though it could go on and on.

I think that creativity (not just necessity) is the mother of invention.