Stop Telling Me Art Doesn’t Matter

Everywhere I look, there’s the simple message: art and creativity doesn’t matter.

Sure, people like to put their nice words in for art.

“Oh, that’s so nice that you do that, that you try to get other people to do it, that there is a place for people like you.”

“People like you,” as if to be an artist, a creator is some sort of aberration of nature, a disabled person that needs to make sure he has his support groups, his friendships so that he’ll be content.

“That’s so nice, that art over there, that you do.”

But when it comes right down to it, do people really think that art matters?  Would they consider an art studio as important as a hospital (I can even hear artists gasping and shaking their heads)?

Ironically, it doesn’t matter what society you look at: it could be the most religious of the religious, or the most materialistic in the world (the one we inhabit when we look around), art is not seen as… real.  It’s a luxury, an extra, something that some “privileged” people can do if they feel like it, but it’s not for the people doing the “real” work out there.

What people don’t realize when they’re caught up in their materialistic view of the world (the one that says, “STEM education is all that matters! Get a living, you hippie!” and the other one that says, “Well, our job is doing the Lord’s work, you see,” or “I support art, I do, but does it have to be so… honest? And what’s with that darkness or that message that makes me uncomfortable?”), what they don’t realize is the great something that art is, the why of it, and the terribly important way it matters to us all.

And why, yes, it’s just as important as science, medicine, religion, and everything else.

Did you know that despite the horrible conditions of the concentration camps, Holocaust victims had a vibrant cultural and musical community?  Did you know that even the poorest societies and groups of people will compose music, poetry, paintings, drawings?

These people defy Maslow’s stupid pyramid.  People that put art over food, over materialism, over the dryness of black-and-white-ness.

What do they know that the graded-ones, the “objective” ones, don’t know?

They know three things, actually, and they’re the most important things we as our society have forgotten:

1. Meaning Matters

Meaning is our lifeblood.  And let me be clear: by meaning, I don’t mean the “objective” truths shoved down our throats by the one who claim dominion over one particular brand of truth.  I am talking about personal purpose.  I am talking about the meaning that G-d (sorry, materialists!) has implanted in us that is a divine ray coming from the prism of reality, displaying its color in a way that only you, only you because you are so unique and special, can truly understand. 

Meaning matters so much that the man, Victor Frankl, who survived the Holocaust and wrote its most important scholarly work (which is really a work of art) said that meaning is what matters most to the survival of a Holocaust victim.  Meaning.  Purpose.  Inner, unique purpose.  He gave an example of the man who had a scientific thesis he was working on.  Frankl told him to keep working on that thesis.  That’s what kept people alive.  Meaning.

And, by the way, recent scientific studies have backed up this truth.

2. Emotion Matters

The second thing: emotion.  Oh, emotion, the forgotten reality of the “objective” livers, the ones who want us to think that we can put ourselves into a box and call it “reality”.  The fools, if only they understood how many people they kill on the inside with that frame of reality.

Emotion, your emotion, matters so much.  It matters just as much as your logic, and in the end, it will provide you more access to meaning than that logic ever will.

We happen to live in a society that is mentally sick, that is taking pills to combat the depression that now exists in one third of our entire society.  And while I am not against pills (I’ve been known to take some from time to time), the high level of depression that is afflicting our country is a sign that we are ignoring an element of reality that exists within us all.  Our emotion matters.  And it contains its own truth.

3. Connection Matters

It’s hard to describe the feeling of creating something completely alone, something you completely ripped from inside your guts, thinking only you could possibly understand it, then placed those guts for the world to see… and then had someone (or if you’re lucky, someones) who says, “Oh my gosh, I totally understand this.  I totally understand you.  And I feel less alone.”

This is the third value art, and it’s a value that’s ever more important with the advent of the internet: the community and connection it creates between the creator and audience.  Art, while often done in private (although just as often not), is a vehicle for creating community.  It is why there exists, even in the most rural town something called a “community theater”.

And it is also not surprising, then, that as our society has valued things like community theaters less, and materialism and “objectivity” more, the more alone we’ve all felt.  40% of Americans claim they are lonely. And people who are lonely get sick more easily, and die sooner than people suffering from obesity.

So…

Personal purpose (meaning), a life-crackling existence (emotion), and deep, soulful connection (community), these are the two things that are ailing, that are missing, that are falling in our society.  A society that has built itself up on the construct that science will solve all our problems, that the collective truth is more important than the individual truth, and that any time we feel something it is a danger because it means that our logical faculties are not working at their best.

We are ailing, we are sick.  As I mentioned, just look at the mental health statistics, at the statistics about loneliness, to know how this is not an exaggeration, this is not a fantasy cooked up.  This is reality.

And one of the answers, one of biggest answers, lies in that one thing that we as a society so like to relegate to a hobby, to the side, to a distraction.

Art. 

And by “art” I do not just mean museums we go to on summer vacation. I do not mean just “entertainment”, that 10 billionth episode of Parks and Rec you streamed.  I do not mean your obsession with selling your friggin’ novel.

I’m talking about a cultural paradigm in which we have embraced a world in which creativity, self-expression, deeply personal works of monumental diversity, are a reality of life.  Where vulnerability is a way in which we live.  A reality we consider art classes just as important as a children’s hospital or STEM education or a priest’s speech at the pulpit.

Why?

Because art, self-expression, creativity that comes from deep within our souls and is smacked on the table for all to see… those are the vehicles by which meaning and emotion are given voice and are strengthened.  It is the way that even the most lonely person can feel less lonely. 

Because art creates a community based on what is within us. A connection that can be formed just by reading a novel that says the words you thought only existed within.  A community in your heart, in other words. A community, a connection, a soul’s communion, of meaning, not of proximity, forced belief, or dry statements of “truth”.

Someone who is poor, with so little, perhaps not even food, has other ways he needs to be fed as well: through art.

In other words, and I want to make this as clear as possible: art is food.  Art is oxygen.  And whether we’re consuming it or creating it, it is essential to a life well-lived.  It is what can keep a concentration camp prisoner going.  It is what can keep the destitute living a life more meaningful than you or me.

Art is food.  Art is oxygen.  It is water. And the only reason we’ve found it so easy to ignore is because it is not as physical as technology, it is not as clear-cut as religious rules, it is not as seemingly impactful as money.

But the fact that our society is suffering from mental health agony, that its people repeatedly report a relative lack of meaning (according to one study, that number equals 75% of people in America) in their lives, even among the religious, is a sign that we while we may be a physically prosperous country, we are an artistically (and thus emotionally, and thus meaningfully) starving.  We are grasping for that food and not realizing it.  We are suffocating from the air of beauty not entering our lungs.  We are parched from the living waters of music, poetry, literature, and more that does not just entertain us, but that fulfills us.

It’s time we gave art its due.  It’s time a children’s art studio mattered as much as a children’s hospital.  It’s time we realized that physical prosperity is not the same thing as a life truly lived.


Posted

in

by

Comments

46 responses to “Stop Telling Me Art Doesn’t Matter”

  1. rebecca.odessa Avatar
    rebecca.odessa

    I think Indigenous Australian artist, Turkey Tolson Tjupurrula said it best…
    “When you sit down with no painting…you get lonely.”

  2. Batya Miriam Avatar
    Batya Miriam

    Incredible article. The community aspect really sticks with me. There are worlds of difference between sharing alone and sharing with others.

  3. […] quite sometime for not writing enough “original” material.  Why was I constantly writing about creativity (I’m doing it right now!), mental health, deeply personal memoirish writing, and doing all these […]

  4. Techiya Avatar
    Techiya

    Spot-on. Thank you.

  5. Avi Klein Avatar
    Avi Klein

    You brought a lot of data to show the problem, but not why art is the solution to it. So…no.

  6. off-white Avatar

    My husband and i were very excited Jordan could deal with his investigation through the entire ideas he acquired from your own web site. It’s not at all simplistic to simply possibly be giving freely information and facts that other people have been making money from. And we understand we need the writer to give thanks to because of that. All the explanations you made, the simple website navigation, the relationships your site make it possible to create – it is most overwhelming, and it is helping our son in addition to the family reason why that issue is exciting, and that is wonderfully essential. Thank you for the whole lot!

  7. kd shoes Avatar

    Thanks for all of the efforts on this site. My aunt takes pleasure in doing investigations and it is obvious why. A number of us hear all relating to the powerful mode you give worthwhile guides via your website and therefore strongly encourage response from website visitors on the situation while my simple princess is undoubtedly studying a great deal. Take advantage of the remaining portion of the year. You are always doing a dazzling job.

  8. golden goose white sneakers Avatar

    Your place is valueble for me. Thanks!?

  9. jordan shoes Avatar

    I simply wanted to send a simple remark to be able to appreciate you for all the lovely recommendations you are giving at this site. My time intensive internet look up has at the end of the day been compensated with good tips to talk about with my contacts. I ‘d tell you that most of us readers actually are truly fortunate to exist in a superb network with very many wonderful people with good principles. I feel really grateful to have used the webpages and look forward to many more fabulous times reading here. Thank you once again for all the details.

  10. yeezy Avatar

    I simply desired to say thanks yet again. I am not sure the things I might have carried out without those suggestions provided by you concerning such a question. It has been the horrifying crisis in my view, but understanding the very specialized way you managed it forced me to leap over happiness. I will be happy for the support and as well , expect you really know what an amazing job you have been doing instructing the others through the use of a web site. Most likely you haven’t met all of us.

  11. off white shoes Avatar

    I simply had to thank you so much once again. I am not sure the things I could possibly have followed without the type of secrets contributed by you concerning such a question. This was a real daunting issue for me, but discovering the professional avenue you managed the issue made me to jump for joy. I am just happier for your help and in addition believe you realize what a powerful job you happen to be putting in instructing others using your web page. Probably you’ve never come across all of us.

  12. off white Avatar

    Thanks for all of the hard work on this web page. Gloria enjoys doing internet research and it’s really easy to see why. My partner and i hear all of the lively manner you offer important techniques by means of this website and recommend participation from people on this subject so my girl is undoubtedly becoming educated so much. Take pleasure in the rest of the year. You are always conducting a pretty cool job.

  13. off white Avatar

    I simply had to thank you very much once more. I am not sure the things I would’ve gone through without the actual opinions documented by you about my field. It was before the intimidating scenario in my position, nevertheless viewing a professional fashion you resolved that forced me to jump for happiness. I will be grateful for the work and as well , sincerely hope you know what a great job you were undertaking teaching the rest through the use of your web blog. More than likely you’ve never come across any of us.

  14. off white Avatar

    I really wanted to write down a comment to say thanks to you for the wonderful techniques you are posting on this site. My long internet lookup has at the end been paid with incredibly good tips to exchange with my co-workers. I ‘d express that we readers actually are extremely blessed to dwell in a notable network with very many marvellous professionals with good concepts. I feel rather lucky to have come across the web page and look forward to many more exciting minutes reading here. Thanks once more for everything.

  15. golden goose francy Avatar

    An fascinating discussion is price comment. I feel that it’s best to write extra on this topic, it might not be a taboo subject but generally individuals are not enough to talk on such topics. To the next. Cheers

  16. curry 9 Avatar

    I and my guys were found to be analyzing the best things found on your site then immediately I had a horrible suspicion I had not thanked the site owner for those strategies. All the boys appeared to be absolutely passionate to read them and already have in fact been having fun with them. Many thanks for getting quite considerate and for deciding on some notable subject matter millions of individuals are really eager to learn about. My very own honest apologies for not saying thanks to sooner.

  17. jordan outlet Avatar

    I precisely had to thank you so much again. I’m not certain the things that I would have followed in the absence of those ideas provided by you directly on such a industry. It has been a real difficult crisis in my opinion, but discovering the very specialized fashion you managed the issue took me to jump over contentment. I’m grateful for the support and in addition hope you are aware of an amazing job you are always providing teaching the rest by way of your blog. Most likely you have never met any of us.

  18. golden goose sneaker dupe Avatar

    WONDERFUL Post.thanks for share..more wait .. ?

  19. hi star golden goose Avatar

    I found your weblog web site on google and examine just a few of your early posts. Continue to keep up the superb operate. I just further up your RSS feed to my MSN News Reader. Searching for ahead to studying extra from you afterward!?

  20. golden goose sneakers Avatar

    Your place is valueble for me. Thanks!?

  21. bape Avatar

    When I originally commented I clicked the -Notify me when new feedback are added- checkbox and now each time a comment is added I get four emails with the same comment. Is there any manner you may take away me from that service? Thanks!

  22. nike off white Avatar

    Would you be all in favour of exchanging links?

  23. supreme outlet Avatar

    Can I just say what a relief to find somebody who truly is aware of what theyre speaking about on the internet. You definitely know tips on how to convey an issue to light and make it important. More folks need to learn this and understand this side of the story. I cant believe youre not more common since you positively have the gift.

  24. kyrie 5 spongebob Avatar

    you might have a fantastic weblog right here! would you wish to make some invite posts on my blog?

  25. adidas yeezy Avatar

    WONDERFUL Post.thanks for share..extra wait .. ?

  26. supreme Avatar

    You made some first rate factors there. I seemed on the internet for the problem and located most people will associate with together with your website.

  27. off white nike Avatar

    This actually answered my drawback, thank you!

  28. disponibilidad de curretab en Argentina Avatar

    Hey I know this is off topic but I was wondering if you
    knew of any widgets I could add to my blog that automatically
    tweet my newest twitter updates. I’ve been looking for a plug-in like
    this for quite some time and was hoping maybe you would
    have some experience with something like this.
    Please let me know if you run into anything. I truly enjoy reading your
    blog and I look forward to your new updates.

  29. Anzeichen für den Verkauf von aplenzin 150 mg in der Schweiz Avatar

    I do not even understand how I stopped up here, but I believed this put up was once great.
    I do not know who you are but certainly you are going to a famous blogger
    should you are not already. Cheers!

  30. Preis von Medikamenten in Kanada Avatar

    What’s up, I read your new stuff daily. Your story-telling
    style is awesome, keep doing what you’re doing!

Leave a Reply to Avi Klein Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *