I
remember the first time I heard the song “Mediteranea” by Angelo Gilardino. It was played at a classical guitar concert
by a friend. As he
struck the first progression of notes, I felt a sense of amazement at the
difficulty and ingenuity of the way the song was written. It was not your typical, predictable
Bach; the song was filled with dissonant chords and complicated layers that
made you feel confused but in awe at the same time. I felt as if it made no sense at all, yet all the sense in
the world. This, to me, was art. I believe art plays a huge role in life
in that it joins us together and creates a history that we can visualize and
experience.
Many
of us don’t think of music straight away when we think of art. Usually we think of an oil painting
hanging somewhere in the Louvre.
However, art can come in many shapes and forms. Art doesn’t have to be confined to an
object but could be any human activity resulting in an expression or communication
of emotion. A block of wood does
not simply get into a museum because it is a block of wood, but because of the
emotions someone associated with it or put into making it.
When
people say, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” beauty could most
definitely be replaced with art; it is all in how you interpret it. For example, one of my friends recently won a major photography contest. The picture she entered was taken while
she was in Peru, showing eight famished and tired men sitting lined up in front
of an old, depleted, blue barn.
The first time I saw it my reaction was, “Wow, why did THAT win? I mean,
it’s nice and all…But why didn’t she have a picture of a sunset or flowers or
something?” But the more I looked
at it, the more it fascinated me.
You could see the sadness in the men’s faces, but with a touch of hope
hiding there, as if they were just waiting to be given a job so that they could
feed their families. You could see the peeling of the blue paint on the rustic
barn and the way the sun fell on the worn shoes of the men. It was at this moment I knew why the
picture had won; it was art--beautiful and raw art showing streams of emotion
and detail.
I
think the reason art is so powerful is because it causes us to think, imagine,
and take into account things we’ve never before considered. Physical experiences such as seeing a
sculpture of an ancient Roman soldier or eating a carefully designed soufflé
makes it more real to us and triggers our cognitive response. This is the importance of appreciating
art; it makes our brains think and realize just how amazing the things in this
world are. We must be careful
though to not let just anything become art. We have to see the difference between someone wanting to
make millions off a blank canvas and someone who actually has put thought and
emotion into a work they consider art.
If we can’t appreciate art correctly and discern real art from junk,
then the real art will be lost in a flood of rubbish, never to be valued
properly.
After
the concert, I remember my dad saying, “I didn’t understand that one song…it
just sounded weird…What was up with that?” It was at that moment I realized how differently each person
hears or sees something. Even now,
hearing that song gives me chills at the cleverness and elegance with which it
was written. This is why I challenge everyone to surround themselves with good
art. Not just what society tells
them is art, but what THEY feel is art.
We should strive to make art that will represent this time period
well. This is one of the most
important ways to promote good thinking and provide the future with works they
can look back upon with wonder and pride.
