Wise to Art

The essential characteristic of art is that it initiates and spurs thought or feeling. A dumb work is not a work of art. Other fundamental qualities are implicitness and evocativeness. In these simple, often dual and sometimes contradictive criteria lies the kernel of all art.

However, in order to perceive and appreciate at all, you need to be receptive to the specific affective or intellectual stimulus of the particular art form. Two-dimensional visual art will not necessarily appeal to the same sensibility as does music or literature. Essentially it’s a question of a favourable physiological constitution, a naturally developed mental or emotive penchant and the presence or lack of an appropriate initiation/education. Once favourably equipped, the question of whether “art” is present or not in a proposed work is quickly settled.

In the drab human everyday reality of factual subsistence, social organisation and material preoccupancy, art helps us to stay in line and to get along. More desirable than the real world, more beautiful, more righteous, the world of art forms a barrier against sordidness.

Art is essential to human existence, the market isn’t. The art market may go bust; art keeps its pre-eminent place in the human adventure. The market is justly based on value and any value can be monetized. Short of discrimination, the art market, as any market, follows the eternal laws of offer and demand. What is monetary successful will be purported as art and marketed regardless of the actual intrinsic quality. This is the world we live in.