While I’ve recently been exploring the new cognitive neuroscience stance that mind is a verb, I’ve long believed that art is a verb. I never understood the endless debate around “Is it art?” I see art as something people do and if it communicates at some level, it can be considered art. I never saw how art could be a category of thing as the notion of art is tied to the intent of both the creator and the witness, whether the art is visual, aural or the written word.
I never stopped to consider the more interesting question of “Why art?” There is a drive among people of diverse cultures to communicate through art, a drive that appears to date to earliest origins of man. It seems uniquely human and very important. Those who make art know the urge, the need for self expression. And while some artists never publicly show their work, this seems to be borne out of fear of rejection rather than any notion of a private art. Art is communication, but why does it need to be said?
In his book, Steps to an Ecology of Mind, Gregory Bateson offers an interesting suggestion. Offering art is a request for affirmation. The artist is showing others how he or she perceives or constructs the world. The audience, by recieving that communication provides feedback about the artists worldview.
This at least provides a framework to explain how the most abstract of art can be a mode of communication. Perception, feeling, concepts- ideas that have no words attached can be communicated through art. Shared and providing affirmation to the artist.
It also provokes some interesting speculation about why some of us are driven to produce works of self expression. Being heard and understood is important. Producing art is intensely personal precisely because it asks others to respond not only to the work but to the vision of the creator.
I was walking down the street in San Francisco. That camera was in my hand because I wanted to show others how I see the city, how I respond to the urban landscape and the light upon objects. I choose photography because its an efficient means to show you what I saw. The essay is useful to communicate what I thought while reading Bateson on the flight home.
