What distinguishes us from other creatures? Some would say language. No doubt we are a wordy species. But its clear that we are not just a wordy species. We are an arty one too. As soon as our intellectual capacity enabled art making, our ancestors wasted no time scribbling, drawing on cave walls, making stone sculptures depicting men, women and animals, and later, pictograms that morphed into words. Along the way, they invented myths, told stories, wrote poetry and songs. We are an artful species indeed. But all that for what purpose?
Contrary to some who argue that all art is useless, I believe art fills an important void in our lives – our need for meaning, for something greater than physical reality. At its best, art, like religion, is about the need to transcend the banalities of daily existence to partake in a larger sensory experience, one that fills us with awe and wonder and joy. Contemplating the arts, giving our absorbed attention to a Mozart concerto, a poem by Keats, or a painting by Monet, any work that speaks to us and demands from us a thoughtful response, is one of the few ways that provide our species with a glimpse of what might be called “this side of eternity.”
I am not alone in thinking this way. Plato wrote of beauty in terms of his belief that the visible world is but a reflection of something deeper that is just as real. The famous art critic, Ruskin saw in the landscape paintings of Constable and Turner, intimations of what he calls the “incarnation” of God’s beauty. Cézanne called painting “a colored state of grace.” The modern English sculptor, Barbara Hepworth wrote that in the contemplation of nature (a constant source of inspiration for her works), “we are perpetually renewed, (and) our sense of mystery and imagination are kept alive…” The eminent art critic, John Berger wrote in book of essays, The White Bird (1985) that “the transcendental face of art is always a form of prayer.”
In essence, what these authors are saying is that far from being useless, art at its best serves a kind of “spiritual” function; in the words of the contemporary artist, Michael David Mayo, art feeds our soul, our longing for another reality larger than the one we experience daily. What this other reality is includes but is not limited to beauty (poetic, lyrical, or visual) and feelings that require an outlet when we experience life most intensely – feelings of joy, gratitude, despair and profound sadness. It is our enduring need to experience this other reality – akin to a spiritual one – that makes art useful and indeed, existentially needful.
Watch: Michael David Mayo, artist: What is Art For?