THOUGHTS ON ART
A reflexive essay on what
Art truly is at its essence.
by Rossane Putri
Art truly is at its essence.
by Rossane Putri
Dear reader, I want to start this letter with some questions I’ve always wanted to ask. Just know that I am asking about Art. Questioning Art. Which means that I am once again questioning the world.
What comes to mind when you think about Art? What form of Art comes first to mind? And when you like a piece of Art what do you see in it? What do you hear in it? Do you recognise yourself in some? Have you ever listened to a song or seen a dance performance and suddenly understood a feeling you have never felt before through the humanly curated weaving of tunes and its movement?
Here is for those of you who regularly engage in the art making process, how does your process look like usually? Also do you share your Art on any platform? What becomes your standard of "good enough" for you to consider what you made, an Art piece? What, in your opinion, counts as Art? Dear reader, before we go on I need you to be aware of the many ways to perceive Art. And how there really is no concrete definition to Art because Art itself is subjective.
I need you to clear your mind a little bit and step back, further. Further than this writing, further than drawn images, further than choreographed sequences of moving limbs, further than the minor and major scales. I need you to see beyond, where everything is Art if you want it to be. Where the way different people walk tells you of their life story. How when someone speaks they adopt a form of Art that tells you what exactly it is that they meant to say.
And this is not to justify that the trash can is Art but when you paint trash cans in a certain way isn’t trash can also art? I often look at the labeled, categorised recycle bins and feel like there is Art in the design of trash cans. When you take time to look at it a little bit closer you find what the trash can is trying to say. I’m right here, don’t litter. Do you see what I am saying? I am not trying to be wishy-washy or overly critical. Step back because we can’t understand what we see through an overly zoomed-in lens.
There is so much to talk about when it comes to Art, and I am honestly overwhelmed because I don’t have a clue where to start. This letter is me trying to dip my fingers in all of my separated thoughts about Art and pray that each finger is strong enough to grasp something.
You see, I have these two prominent voices in my head.
Wishy-Washy would say “Anything can be good Art if it’s pretty and makes you go wow.” Wishy Washy speaks a little bit like Plato. He believed that art is essentially a reflection of a reflection of what is real. Which means every real thing humans perceive and recreate to their liking is Art. I am telling you It is very vague. And vague is freeing, but only to some degree.
Critic would say “Art that is functional/communicative is the better Art—if not the only.” And I think this voice comes from how I have always been taught. And from expectations, both internal and external. This voice is rigid and logical because it has been taught to be.
Now I am saying that both of them are right to some degree. Therefore it’s confusing for me to come to a conclusion because when I am following one voice, the other screams back and I am left paralysed. In this way, categorisation is pain. Do we even need to categorise disciplines? Why must Art have requirements and a Less and Better?
What I wish the entire world would see is that categorisation of disciplines should not have to mean One worths more than Two, and vice versa. What is that word. Interdisciplinary? What does that really mean? Can an Artist practice every kind of discipline and still be referred to as an Artist and not a Rebel or a Wannabe? Within the boundaries of art disciplines I’ve often felt as if I have to be ashamed for bringing in another when I am doing this other. It’s become a disorder of some sort. I don’t draw at school in the open because I am afraid of judgement from whoever came up with this caste system of disciplines. At school, Art becomes the simplification of forms for functional purposes through modifying shapes, grid and type systems and arrangements of graphic elements. I feel small, creating in the presence of this invisible caste between what is less and what is more.
I hope that makes sense.
It’s just that I have been taught too much dividing and categorising and so nothing comes together and I need to cry sometimes from the helplessness. A selfish me exists where I want to unify Art. You see, that is a very selfish request. I still don’t know if I want the truth or a truce. And I know this kind of integration of disciplines has already been done often by great great artists and everytime I see their works I am left in awe but when it comes to me personally I can’t seem to find the subjects I want to unify. And then I feel small because I feel as if Time is running out for me to discover what I need to do. So many things but nothing at all because all I’m trying to think of is originality. And this is where it’s a double edged sword.
Maybe what I lack is knowledge and that is why I want too many things. I need someone to teach me what I can do.
And when we put it that way, we can conclude that the notion of originality is what makes an artwork last. Something that leaves an impression. It is the way an Artist inserts themselves that makes “originality”. The point of view is “originality”. The little added something–a style, a movement, a way of arranging—can be “originality”. Finding it takes a lot of time and experimenting. And patience. For some people, sometimes it’s luck.
But here, too, I must say that everybody is trying to pursue this originality and so at the end nothing in this world is truly original simply because it is of this world. Everything we create is an extension of our own world, which means every creation is merely an attempt to replicate the semblances of the world.
if there simply are too many pieces saying the same things over and over then the problem lies in the saturation of originalities. If every recyclables that's been created stay forever then does that make the act of creation a double-edged sword? Will over-saturation transform the Forever Art into the Pointless Art and end up shriveling without ever being seen? We create and get it out there but when there is nothing to reach the Creation just dies, and that sucks.
Doesn’t everyone want to be heard?
When you ask me now at this moment why I like certain art pieces it is because they have a clear message I can find myself in. That's it. I don't really mind the form it takes, but as long as it screams something to me I will gladly keep it in my heart. It wasn't always this way. I used to think that Art has to be pretty to be likeable, but I find that it sticks to you more when there is a story to tell.
I want to see the world through your eyes. I want to see how you feel about the world. And that thought is what inspires me (personally) to create everything. I want to try and learn about everything to understand Art. I want to learn and practice all kinds of Art to understand the world. When my voices confuse me I hold on to this thought.
I also want to remind you of something.
Maybe the problem with us Artists lies in forgetting that Art does not only come in one form. We spend hours of our days drowning in a specific form thinking we would be useless without it but that is not true. Art is a safe space with multiple ways to be shared and so I want you to take a step back. Outside of this identity you have so much more to give and tell and when I say everyone can make Art everyone can. Because as I have mentioned. Art at its essence is storytelling, and as long as you have something worth screaming about, you are always Something.
With this I am not telling you that everything you see is Art and you need to appreciate every piece of artwork the same way every time you look at it but I want to tell you that it can be. It doesn’t have to be but it can be if you ever want to. What is already created will always exist in the moments when you need to reach out to it. That’s when the potential transforms into kinetic energy. And then it moves you. Again and again. To appreciate Art is to live.
And the passage above is Me trying to be insistently gentle to the other voices in my head, because If I don’t start somewhere I will never stop to frustrate myself. When it comes to creating good and meaningful Art sometimes you just need to stick to one thought. Just one thought, anything that itches your mind or your heart. I also found that I cannot find this one thing by staring at the ceiling. When I told you Art is like energy I was also saying that you need to fuel the source which is the person. I have to go out and live and when I start to question what is around me I go back to my devices. Art is a device not an end goal.
I know some of you will say that you cannot live when your Art does not bear any result. I can’t deny that because I still do not know what I can do with all this want to drown in Art if I can’t afford to live from it. Which is why it is truly a luxury. It really hurts to say that sometimes you just have to let go of expectations and make do with creating in another way. Sometimes even artists have to be marketers just so we can go back to being artists. Again, I hope you get what I mean. I wish it was easier. I wish Art wasn’t an occupation. Maybe in another universe.
Sometimes I want to say this to the whole world, especially to those who undermine the amount of potential energy stored in Art. I want to scream LOOK AT ME I AM RIGHT HERE and when you experience this Piece with me maybe life can make a little more sense. I need you to listen to this song or look at the drawing or READ THIS, because I feel we have too many questions and the answers are here. The answers exist in this little creation I am showing you. And once it is here I will leave it here forever for you to experience.
Tell me what you think because I want to create something, anything, regardless of what its form is, as long as you can see yourself in it. As long as it makes you stop and smile, or cry, or think, or act. Just for a short moment. it does not have to be forever.
And if you are here now, I want to thank you for reading this until the end and I really mean it because I feel that I am heard and we are sharing the heaviness of my thoughts even if sometimes I do not make sense and I truly appreciate that. I hope we can all create to live and live to create and to share. Sometimes we never know if the answer lies within someone’s thoughts. So share. Art is as limitless as energy so I hope you open your mind and hearts to its voice.
I look forward to the future.
What comes to mind when you think about Art? What form of Art comes first to mind? And when you like a piece of Art what do you see in it? What do you hear in it? Do you recognise yourself in some? Have you ever listened to a song or seen a dance performance and suddenly understood a feeling you have never felt before through the humanly curated weaving of tunes and its movement?
Here is for those of you who regularly engage in the art making process, how does your process look like usually? Also do you share your Art on any platform? What becomes your standard of "good enough" for you to consider what you made, an Art piece? What, in your opinion, counts as Art? Dear reader, before we go on I need you to be aware of the many ways to perceive Art. And how there really is no concrete definition to Art because Art itself is subjective.
I need you to clear your mind a little bit and step back, further. Further than this writing, further than drawn images, further than choreographed sequences of moving limbs, further than the minor and major scales. I need you to see beyond, where everything is Art if you want it to be. Where the way different people walk tells you of their life story. How when someone speaks they adopt a form of Art that tells you what exactly it is that they meant to say.
And this is not to justify that the trash can is Art but when you paint trash cans in a certain way isn’t trash can also art? I often look at the labeled, categorised recycle bins and feel like there is Art in the design of trash cans. When you take time to look at it a little bit closer you find what the trash can is trying to say. I’m right here, don’t litter. Do you see what I am saying? I am not trying to be wishy-washy or overly critical. Step back because we can’t understand what we see through an overly zoomed-in lens.
There is so much to talk about when it comes to Art, and I am honestly overwhelmed because I don’t have a clue where to start. This letter is me trying to dip my fingers in all of my separated thoughts about Art and pray that each finger is strong enough to grasp something.
Art as Categorised Disciplines
I have read so many opinions and debates throughout history on “Whether Art….?” so I am wondering if there was ever a one solid Truth somewhere out there about what Art should look or feel like, about what Art is at its essence. Is there a truth that unifies the visual arts and literature and the graphic and plastic arts and product arts and performance? I have asked and debated myself on this too much that I’ve started to wonder if it is worth questioning at all. Yet I can’t get this question off of me.You see, I have these two prominent voices in my head.
Wishy-Washy would say “Anything can be good Art if it’s pretty and makes you go wow.” Wishy Washy speaks a little bit like Plato. He believed that art is essentially a reflection of a reflection of what is real. Which means every real thing humans perceive and recreate to their liking is Art. I am telling you It is very vague. And vague is freeing, but only to some degree.
Critic would say “Art that is functional/communicative is the better Art—if not the only.” And I think this voice comes from how I have always been taught. And from expectations, both internal and external. This voice is rigid and logical because it has been taught to be.
Now I am saying that both of them are right to some degree. Therefore it’s confusing for me to come to a conclusion because when I am following one voice, the other screams back and I am left paralysed. In this way, categorisation is pain. Do we even need to categorise disciplines? Why must Art have requirements and a Less and Better?
What I wish the entire world would see is that categorisation of disciplines should not have to mean One worths more than Two, and vice versa. What is that word. Interdisciplinary? What does that really mean? Can an Artist practice every kind of discipline and still be referred to as an Artist and not a Rebel or a Wannabe? Within the boundaries of art disciplines I’ve often felt as if I have to be ashamed for bringing in another when I am doing this other. It’s become a disorder of some sort. I don’t draw at school in the open because I am afraid of judgement from whoever came up with this caste system of disciplines. At school, Art becomes the simplification of forms for functional purposes through modifying shapes, grid and type systems and arrangements of graphic elements. I feel small, creating in the presence of this invisible caste between what is less and what is more.
I hope that makes sense.
It’s just that I have been taught too much dividing and categorising and so nothing comes together and I need to cry sometimes from the helplessness. A selfish me exists where I want to unify Art. You see, that is a very selfish request. I still don’t know if I want the truth or a truce. And I know this kind of integration of disciplines has already been done often by great great artists and everytime I see their works I am left in awe but when it comes to me personally I can’t seem to find the subjects I want to unify. And then I feel small because I feel as if Time is running out for me to discover what I need to do. So many things but nothing at all because all I’m trying to think of is originality. And this is where it’s a double edged sword.
Maybe what I lack is knowledge and that is why I want too many things. I need someone to teach me what I can do.
Art and Recycled Originality
When I try to create something this is what I think about: Just like I want to see what people experience through their creations, I also want to give you something truly Me, for I cannot give you anything concrete other than my words and passing performances. All I can afford to do is show; is to try my best to immerse you in something worthwhile. But what is something worthwhile? How does one create something that will not die? It might help to refer back to the reason I love Art in the first place. “Something the Artist wants to communicate.”And when we put it that way, we can conclude that the notion of originality is what makes an artwork last. Something that leaves an impression. It is the way an Artist inserts themselves that makes “originality”. The point of view is “originality”. The little added something–a style, a movement, a way of arranging—can be “originality”. Finding it takes a lot of time and experimenting. And patience. For some people, sometimes it’s luck.
But here, too, I must say that everybody is trying to pursue this originality and so at the end nothing in this world is truly original simply because it is of this world. Everything we create is an extension of our own world, which means every creation is merely an attempt to replicate the semblances of the world.
if there simply are too many pieces saying the same things over and over then the problem lies in the saturation of originalities. If every recyclables that's been created stay forever then does that make the act of creation a double-edged sword? Will over-saturation transform the Forever Art into the Pointless Art and end up shriveling without ever being seen? We create and get it out there but when there is nothing to reach the Creation just dies, and that sucks.
Doesn’t everyone want to be heard?
Art as Potential Energy
The only time I can be gentle with my own opinion about Art is when you ask me why I love Art. Because then I would say it is because to me, Art is somehow like energy. Like energy it is endless, the only thing that defeats Time. You see, Art possesses all the potential energy of the universe. It is the compressed, simplified kinetic energy of the artist that is just waiting for someone to see and experience it. I don't know who first took inspiration from the Creator and started the act of creation on Earth but I am truly grateful that humans have the ability to create so many wonderful things. To possess an ability of Creation as a race who were only Created. Isn't that amazing? To be able to create and modify reality (in the form of an artistic direction) through experiencing life.When you ask me now at this moment why I like certain art pieces it is because they have a clear message I can find myself in. That's it. I don't really mind the form it takes, but as long as it screams something to me I will gladly keep it in my heart. It wasn't always this way. I used to think that Art has to be pretty to be likeable, but I find that it sticks to you more when there is a story to tell.
I want to see the world through your eyes. I want to see how you feel about the world. And that thought is what inspires me (personally) to create everything. I want to try and learn about everything to understand Art. I want to learn and practice all kinds of Art to understand the world. When my voices confuse me I hold on to this thought.
Art at its Essence
Therefore, I believe Art at its essence, is storytelling. And for every story a new conversation is born. It’s as if the Recycled is being renewed through every new thought. Couldn’t that be inspiring, too? How do you create something seemingly new when in fact the idea behind it just went out of the trash can with additional sprinkles of Inspiration and Human Perspective? Mind blowing.I also want to remind you of something.
Maybe the problem with us Artists lies in forgetting that Art does not only come in one form. We spend hours of our days drowning in a specific form thinking we would be useless without it but that is not true. Art is a safe space with multiple ways to be shared and so I want you to take a step back. Outside of this identity you have so much more to give and tell and when I say everyone can make Art everyone can. Because as I have mentioned. Art at its essence is storytelling, and as long as you have something worth screaming about, you are always Something.
With this I am not telling you that everything you see is Art and you need to appreciate every piece of artwork the same way every time you look at it but I want to tell you that it can be. It doesn’t have to be but it can be if you ever want to. What is already created will always exist in the moments when you need to reach out to it. That’s when the potential transforms into kinetic energy. And then it moves you. Again and again. To appreciate Art is to live.
And the passage above is Me trying to be insistently gentle to the other voices in my head, because If I don’t start somewhere I will never stop to frustrate myself. When it comes to creating good and meaningful Art sometimes you just need to stick to one thought. Just one thought, anything that itches your mind or your heart. I also found that I cannot find this one thing by staring at the ceiling. When I told you Art is like energy I was also saying that you need to fuel the source which is the person. I have to go out and live and when I start to question what is around me I go back to my devices. Art is a device not an end goal.
I know some of you will say that you cannot live when your Art does not bear any result. I can’t deny that because I still do not know what I can do with all this want to drown in Art if I can’t afford to live from it. Which is why it is truly a luxury. It really hurts to say that sometimes you just have to let go of expectations and make do with creating in another way. Sometimes even artists have to be marketers just so we can go back to being artists. Again, I hope you get what I mean. I wish it was easier. I wish Art wasn’t an occupation. Maybe in another universe.
Sometimes I want to say this to the whole world, especially to those who undermine the amount of potential energy stored in Art. I want to scream LOOK AT ME I AM RIGHT HERE and when you experience this Piece with me maybe life can make a little more sense. I need you to listen to this song or look at the drawing or READ THIS, because I feel we have too many questions and the answers are here. The answers exist in this little creation I am showing you. And once it is here I will leave it here forever for you to experience.
Tell me what you think because I want to create something, anything, regardless of what its form is, as long as you can see yourself in it. As long as it makes you stop and smile, or cry, or think, or act. Just for a short moment. it does not have to be forever.
And if you are here now, I want to thank you for reading this until the end and I really mean it because I feel that I am heard and we are sharing the heaviness of my thoughts even if sometimes I do not make sense and I truly appreciate that. I hope we can all create to live and live to create and to share. Sometimes we never know if the answer lies within someone’s thoughts. So share. Art is as limitless as energy so I hope you open your mind and hearts to its voice.
I look forward to the future.
from Street Report: Public Bins by Temporary Press
“ Within the boundaries of art disciplines I’ve often felt as if I have to be ashamed for bringing in another when I am doing this other. It’s become a disorder of some sort. “
a worthwhile read on the topic
of sustainable craft/artwork.
“Art is somehow like energy. Like energy it is endless,
the only thing that defeats Time.”
“What is already created will always exist in the moments when you need to reach out to it. That’s when the potential transforms into kinetic energy. And then it moves you. Again and again. To appreciate Art is to live. “
OTHER WORKS
IN THIS CATEGORY
︎︎︎ An Answer That’s Truly Mine
(A self-indulgent writing about the courage in being proud of oneself. )
︎︎︎ We Will Find Our Way Home
( An essay about Home and
feelings associated around Home. )
IN THIS CATEGORY
︎︎︎ An Answer That’s Truly Mine
(A self-indulgent writing about the courage in being proud of oneself. )
︎︎︎ We Will Find Our Way Home
( An essay about Home and
feelings associated around Home. )