All Things Art

My friend and fellow artist Jim, you all should have such a friend, is the consummate information specialist of all things art. He’s knows all the blogs, he reads all the books, he knows all–and shares all. I can’t wait to open his emails and find another interview/artist/article/video to experience. And, (Jim, thank you), I look at them all. Just today he sent me an interview at Works&Conversations with Jane Rosen. Never heard of her, but I most certainly liked what she had to say about art. Here are a couple of quotes that I’d like to put down here mainly so that I can refer back to them. When speaking about her art making, Jane said “The question is, “What is my possibility? ” and How can art direct us toward our possibilities? Toward a finer quality of existence so that the relationship between nature and the culture I find myself in can be reconciled. So a balance can be brought. So I can understand. That is what interests me.”

“You know, and I don’t mean to put anybody down—but for something to be really art, not social commentary, it has to engage more of the viewer. It has to activate what can be felt, what can be sensed, and what can be thought. It has to activate that. And Rothko, when you look at a Rothko, here’s a man who prayed on canvas. He prayed with his mind to understand the nature of light. He prayed with his heart to feel the space within. And he prayed with his body to be in relation to the material. And this prayer is perhaps a question that takes many forms, but speaks of what our better nature might be. For me, this is art.”

Oh, and I loved her above/underwater analogy: “This is why I say, art is the language of the body and feeling trying to make a relationship between what the disconnected part of my mind is desperately trying to understand. And that, as a possibility, is what art does. It’s informing and transforming another part of myself and showing me what’s really going on. I think of this as my underwater life. It has to do with the difference between sitting in a boat on the surface of the water versus diving under the water and snorkeling, which is a much more three dimensional experience. My mind is sort of above the water. This underwater life constantly registers all of these impressions which aren’t being heard or received.”

Read the interview here.

#FindingMeaning