Is it art?
Last Updated on Sunday, 29 November 2009 08:30 Written by Norm Tucker Friday, 27 November 2009 11:47
For several months, I have considered, and some would say procrastinated over an article and a dialogue on art, an article spurred on by a cartoon of all things.
Writing is a little like police work - investigation or research, sorting, prioritizing, making a conclusion, moving on to the next process. The Mike Williams cartoon tickles my fancy for several reasons. Is the cartoon art? Is art in the cartoon, a person perhaps? Does the constable play on words - as in the British artist John Constable?
And finally, what is art?
Today, I dumped all my research overboard and plan to ignore it, except two items.
First - a little known fact from Alexander Marshack's article 'The Art and Symbols of Ice Man' which I found in a book titled 'Communication in History - Technology, Culture, Society' by David Crowley and Paul Heyer (Longman, 1991). Here's a quote:
"In 1064, the Hungarian archeologist Laszlo Vertes published a photograph of an unusual small oval object that had been carved by Neanderthal man about 47,000 years ago from a section of a mammoth tooth. After carefully carving the object and beveling one edge for easier handling, the artist painted the shiny surface with red ocher."
Art or art has been with us a long time. The mammoth tooth, which was found in Tata, Hungary, precedes the drawings in the French caves of Lascaux.
The other piece of research I wanted to pass on was the artist, Pablo Picasso's comment on first seeing the drawings in the Lascaux caves. He said, "My God, have we not learned anything?"
So what is art? Let me offer you my modest thoughts:
"Life and living is art.
Our bodies are art.
We are all artists.
"Artists communicate.
In our 'make-believe' world,
Our art is what we communicate.
"Life and living is infinitely diverse,
Thus, so is our art."
"Our relationship to our art,
To the art of others,
Defines our life and our living
"Life-living- art,
Are one.
Our canvas is us."