inspiration
Years ago I saw an interview with Nirvana, at the Reading Festival I think. They were asked 'what do your songs mean?' They're answer, 'whatever people want them to mean', inspired me to add a second element to my idea of art.
The fact is that when you experience a work of art the thoughts you have are not guaranteed to be the same as those held by the artist. In fact although some degree of communication will occur, you will probably find yourself using the work as a catalyst to access your own ideas and inspiration tends to lead to art.
It makes some kind of instinctive sense that while the purpose of art is to communicate ideas, it also contains a reproductive mechanism. Though everyone has ideas to express not all of us do, such a system of inspirational perpetuation helps to explain how the apparently inherent artistic impulse has continued to be acted upon and not allowed to lie dormant among all people of the world. Just as with the genetics of life, the information itself is not really important, it's the perpetuation of information that counts.
Again though, let's consider the practicalities of the real world. The ability to be inspired is inherent in mankind and yet, as with art itself, it has been sullied by the image of middle class pretension. It is detrimental to us all that many people consider art appreciation as being an academic pursuit and therefore beyond their own capabilities.
Unless you count GCSE Art, (in which I got a D,) I have had no formal artistic training and the academic qualifications I do have, (a masters in physics & astrophysics) took me, if anything, in the exact opposite direction. Despite this however, I find myself capable of appreciating art and finding inspiration not just there, but everywhere.
And this is the essential facet of art's inspirational quality. Not only does it serve to help produce more art and maybe help us to understand ourselves a little better, but it allows, even encourages us, to practice an absolutely vital skill.
When people viewed the messy bed mentioned in the previous post, they viewed it as a piece of art because it was in an art gallery. The thoughts it inspired in them would not have necessarily occurred to them when seeing their own bed in such a state. This tendency to only engage the creative thought process when told it is appropriate, holds us all back.
Of course there are people who think their opinion is more important than yours as they consider themselves more educated in the field. They'll look down their noses at you in the hope that you'll falter and back away, leaving the endless wonders of art to them and their selected friends.
Well I say, fuck these people. Hold their nasal gaze and look back hard. You've as much right to the arts as you have to the air you breath and your opinion is as valid as theirs, whatever it is. Don't blame art for the art lover.
