When I was a music student in college, I had a number of discussions/arguments with my peers and professors over what art is. You see, it seemed to me that the art (musical, visual, etc…) of the recent past was not considered to be “serious” unless it was ugly. The mindset was: Real art should reflect the inner turmoil and strife of our world, in order to “wake people up to see the truth,” or something to that end.
In all honesty, does the world really need to have additional ugliness and pain? I would argue that a greater purpose for art would be to transcend reality. A greater purpose for artists in my mind is to create incredible art that will uplift, heal, restore, and/or encourage. Instead of trying to point out what’s wrong with the world (which is easy), doing our best to make it better (much harder, much much more rewarding). Maybe it only makes things better by a little, but that may be just the little bit that someone needs to hear or see to make a difference in their lives…
creativeworshipideas 