Why Do We Even Need The Arts?
And how will you add your branch to the tree of existence?
I came across an image the other day that left a rather bitter taste in my mouth.
The common theme of these two photos is they both contain masterpieces by the virtuosic artist Rembrandt.
Beyond that, the scenes couldn’t be more different.
On the left, we see a bunch of teenagers deeply hypnotised by digital distraction. They’re presumably unaware and certainly disinterested in what history and mastery lies behind them.
On the right, we see a woman propped up in a portable bed surrounded by medics and a museum guide. This woman was close to death, and it was her dying wish to see the work of Rembrandt one last time before such beauty couldn’t be captured by her eyes again.
Now, it is easy for us to conform to the clichés.
“This generation doesn’t appreciate anything!”
“How can they not be fascinated by this?!”
“What disrespect to such a great artist’s work!”
I won’t lie — I couldn’t imagine myself peering into a screen when presented with an opportunity to witness something of such artistic magnitude.
However, I don’t think it’s as easy as saying this generation possesses the attention span of the goldfish.
Something deeper is at work.
I believe it lies in the reason we manifest creativity in the first place.
I recently watched an epic TED Talk from famous actor Ethan Hawke.
Hawke has held roles of varying prominence in over 75 films, as well as being an acclaimed stage actor. He has been unafraid of baring his naked soul before us for over 30 years.
He makes a beautifully poignant point when reflecting on his repetoire of character:
“I’ve played cops. I’ve played criminals. I’ve played priests. I’ve played sinners. The magic of this over a lifetime […] is that you start to see that my experiences […] are not nearly as unique as I thought.”
What Hawke touches on is, in my opinion, the fundamental point of creativity.
When we bare our souls on the page, we break down the mental barrier of solitude.
We aren’t alone on this Earth.
We go through the same bursts of joy and the same detonations of catastrophe. We have our heartstrings tugged so hard that you could play a symphony on them and our hearts shattered so hard that we’re still picking up the rose-tinted glass off the floor for years after.
That’s why when you listen to a song about love, heartbreak, joy, sorrow, gain, loss, euphoria, aimlessness — you pause.
You find yourself so entangled in the music and words that time ceases to pass as it would ordinarily.
The same goes for any authentic poem, painting, opera, play, book, film or TV show.
I got the opportunity not long ago to see an original Rembrandt in the Gulbenkian Museum here in Lisbon, Portugal.
The biggest shame of me showing you this through the Internet is you can’t see just how incredible the details of the shadows are.
When I saw this painting, I entered a trance. I couldn’t believe the detail in the image when it was painted to resemble low light conditions. The hand of Athena clenching a spear is almost blended to the background, but at the same time, perfectly seperate and quasi-three-dimensional.
It was after 10 minutes my girlfriend tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I was OK.
Time ceased.
That is the power of creativity. It takes us out of our own heads and forces us to tap into, as Carl Jung would put it, the collective unconscious. While we use our experiences to pour out words or brushstrokes or notes, they are merely borrowing from the cauldron of human emotion and experience.
The biggest problem with social media is that it actually goes directly against the point of creativity.
It doesn’t make us feel connected, as ironic as that is.
It makes us feel lonelier.
Constant comparison by allowing us a peek through a window into the life of the richest or the most beautiful or the most outrageous. It has led to a solitary state of thinking. When we log into the digital slot machine, we aren’t connected to the fundamental melting pot of humanity. We’re plugged into a competition for our attention.
Art has never been about competition.
It’s about adding an extra branch to the tree of human existence. While we all spread off in different directions, we’re all still connected to the trunk.
When you spend hours on your phone staring at the life you wish you had or the people releasing music and writing books when you’ve been putting it off for years, you sacrifice that connection to the beauty of the natural world.
The arts are a reminder of a sheer miracle…
Against all the odds, we are here on this floating rock through space. With those sorts of odds, we should all be completely and utterly random creatures.
But we’re not.
We’re connected on a plain below reality.
Art is the medium that allows us to show that miracle of similarity in a world where entropy is the natural course of action.
Let’s not lose our connection to it, for we will lose our connection to ourselves.
Before you go…
We’ve all had that embarrassing moment.
You know the one. You hit ‘Publish’, with fire in your eyes, expecting 100s of likes, tonnes of business and no possibility of your article failing… only for it to flop.
My writing journey was exactly like this. My first 6 months online, I got about 1000 impressions. I felt like a burning zeppelin on a crash course. I was days away from saying “Enough.”
That was until I met one of my greatest mentors.
He offered to edit one of my articles for me. No crazy rewrites. Just enhancing what was there.
That piece alone garnered over 500,000 impressions on Twitter.
I couldn’t believe it.
Since that moment, I’ve spent the last 3 years honing my craft and helping other writers do exactly the same. I’ve edited over 200 articles, and helped writers build their following online with words that truly connect to their audience, ensuring they get repeat readers and daily email signups.
Right now, I’m taking on clients who would like their work edited to turn it into hypnotic pieces that readers can’t ignore.
If you’re interested in getting your work looked over, shoot me a DM via the button below, or email me directly at willmylesroberts@gmail.com. This offer will only last until the end of October, so if you're ready to write words that make a difference, don’t hesitate to get in contact.
Until the next one, gang.
Will Myles
Great refections. I loved everything about this article. I remember standing in the Louvre, years ago, marveling at the folds of silk in a painting of a man. It took my breath away in the same way as the Rembrandt. Your words have a similar effect in the way they reveal hidden shadows.
I can't say I'm cultured enough to understand the significance of the art style. Or talk about how amazing art pieces are. So I'll have to pass on talking about that. I remember seeing a similar picture awhile back with a bunch of students staring at their screens in the presence of great art, and people were saying similar things, how today's generation can't appreciate art etc.
Though it turns out, the museum's notes or history of the pieces were on an app and the students had to look up certain information about the art.
But as you've pointed out, it's unfair to blame the younglings for the declining interest in arts because they, like myself can't or rather, don't understand it and without proper teachers to educate, teach or spark our interest, it's hard to properly appreciate a work of art.
Still, the world would be a better place if people stopped burying their faces in their screens and took in more of the world around them.