What is Art?

[Steven Barnes]

What is Art?

The recent discussion about Dan Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code” opened a bit of a Pandora’s box. His book is loved by some, loathed by others, hotly debated, and one incredibly profitable page-turner. In essence, he took a bunch of conspiracy theories that have been around for quite a long time, wove them together, and published them as “fiction” while protesting that the essence was truth.

Was this fair? Was it honest? Can we assume that his intentions were malicious? Defamatory? Revolutionary? It is hard to say without reading the man’s mind, and I cannot do that.

A question that does arise, however, is this: what is the nature of Art, and what are the responsibilities of the Artist to the world at large, and to herself?

For me, the primary responsibility of the artist is to communicate her deepest sense of the world as it is. Of her inner experience. Of any aspect of reality which has been inadequately languaged or expressed. In this sense, there is a vast array of subjects that have been addressed exhaustively: love, sex, power, fear, yearning, pain, birth and death. In my own work, I’ve been rather obsessed with the question of becoming a warrior—my own metaphor for simply becoming a man. Without a father in my home, I was left without a clear guideline in this arena. My mother, bless her heart, did the best she could, but all a woman can offer is her opinions about what a man is, perhaps some role models based on her friends, family, and perhaps relationships. Most importantly, she can demonstrate what a mature, responsible HUMAN BEING is, which is more important than being either a man or a woman. But I specifically wanted women to react to me the way I saw them react to other guys. And I wanted men to respect me in the specific way they respected other men.

And this my mother could not demonstrate for me, bless her heart.

This whole arena caused me more pain, more grief, more mistakes, more fear and doubt than everything else combined. Those who think that race has been the dominating issue in my work aren’t looking closely enough.

This well of pain and concern HAD to be addressed before I could look at the next question, the deeper questions: what is it to be human, and what is it simply to be?

That last one is the corker, but I had to go through so much to get there: male, black, human. Then, alive. And then, simply to exist. THAT is the core miracle.

But you have to work your way there. I envy those with a cultural or family road map: Do THIS and you will be a man. Do THIS and you will be an adult. Etcetera. However inexact or corrupt, the cultural maps at least provide us with a starting place, something to compare our own experiences and observations to.

To me, the artist pledges her life to asking the hard questions, and then expressing them—or the answers—in some form capable of communicating to an audience. Dance, sculpture, poetry, music…or what of the artistic forms that are rarely considered in such context? Raising children, crafting gardens, teaching…anything in life can be used as a form of artistic expression. All we need do is commit, to decide that this challenge, the expression of deepest truth, is something worth the investment of our most precious commodity: our time, our energy, our life itself.

From this promise to the most eternal part of our being springs the font of art.

Of course, this is just my view. What’s yours?

[Argent'horn]

I think art is simply an extension of communication which is in some way more formalized than after dinner conversation, because of more effort, style, and technical skill than ordinarily exists in most people. Someone commented on your blog that it was a game with several players, mainly museums, that somehow defined one aspect of our culture. The art that I collect is mostly from art shows at sf cons, or from artists I have met at cons. None of these is yet represented in a museum, so far as I know, but to me the images are important, and presumably for the people who created them, also.

But, I think the intent of your query was beyond visual art, and included literature, films, music, theatre, etc. There are those of us who regard mathematics as a profound, though abstract, art form as well. I think that the key factor, at the base, is cost of production. Creating a painting requires less effort, overall, than making a movie. Thus, it can be sold for less than the movie must generate. This means that it can be more subtle, quirky, or just non-mainstream, than something which has to be mass-marketed to be successful. A novel is probably usually in between these in cost of production. But always the essence of it is individuals responding to the culture, the world, or the universe, and making statements about one or more of these, which enhance in some way other people's insights.

To me, the philosophical conundrum, though, is that I do not like the idea of one-of-a-kind art, which by its very nature cannot communicate its insights to very many people. If an insight into the culture, the world, or the universe is important, it is worth sharing widely. To do this requires mass marketing, which can leads to a diluted product. Thus, some artistic work which I love may possibly suffer if it is changed to be marketable. One example is the Memnon trilogy by Brother G. I first heard of these books when he posted to your blog. I had trouble finding a copy, so I expect it has not sold many, but I think it is a magnificent piece of literature, and thus of art. (I am only half through reading it, at present.) I do not know whether it is the race of the protagonists or some other factors which has kept it from the wide circulation I believe it deserves.

So, I believe that art is a kind of global conversation which unfortunately has economically imposed impediments to communication. Unfortunately, breaking through these impediments can frequently lessen the profundity of the content of the work.

[Steven Barnes]

"So, I believe that art is a kind of global conversation which unfortunately has economically imposed impediments to communication. Unfortunately, breaking through these impediments can frequently lessen the profundity of the content of the work."

Perhaps. But the ability to communicate to that broad audience is, in a very serious way, its own form of profound expression. connecting the entire human organism with a common myth is as important as anything could possibly be. In that sense, a mass-market film like "Star Wars" might be more important than an art-house film like "My Dinner With Andre."

[Argent'horn]

"In that sense, a mass-market film like "Star Wars" might be more important than an art-house film like "My Dinner With Andre." "

I certainly agree about Star Wars, and a few others, although some movies, such as Cat Woman, were to me even more profound but lacked the wide success. I have seen My Dinner with Andre twice, but don't remember much about it, so it must not have imprinted much on my consciousness. The Memnon Trilogy, which I mentioned above, has only one flaw that I see so far: The author, like many of my students, seems to think that a spell-check run is a substitute for proofreading.

Yet, for whatever reason, it is not widely available. This is a loss to the sf/fantasy community. Of course, a lot of books that are similarly published really are NOT worth reading, and the economic barriers to mass market publication may be the only viable way to maintain some sort of quality control. But if the race of the protagonists is the deciding factor here, as may well be, it is a major flaw in the system. I think this is illustrative of the point I was trying to make.

[Steven Barnes]

"This is a loss to the sf/fantasy community. Of course, a lot of books that are similarly published really are NOT worth reading, and the economic barriers to mass market publication may be the only viable way to maintain some sort of quality control. But if the race of the protagonists is the deciding factor here, as may well be, it is a major flaw in the system. I think this is illustrative of the point I was trying to make."

And its a good point, David. yes, there is a loss. Yes, it would be good for these thoughts and images to be more widely available. To a certain degree, we get the art we're ready for. Human beings are herd beasts, covered with fear as much as glory. it does no good to get too far out in front of the herd...your discoveries or insights don't help. And yes, a lot of this can be painful to think about. But as they said in "The Princess Bride"--"life is pain. Anyone who says different is selling something."