What is art? I remember asking myself, many times. Perhaps today, I still don’t have a definitive answer, because what I see as art can be totally different to what you, the viewer, sees when you look at a painting. That very reason alone is why art is important in our lives, as it’s context can be broad and appealing to many and yet the best art you will find to be personal to you in some way, whether you are aware of it or not.
In my mind art has become the great mirror of humanity, reflecting what we want to see as much as it gives us what we try to avoid. We are confronted by it, in all the shapes and forms in which it presents itself: music, literature, dance, poetry, film, theater, martial arts etc. They all spring from the same well of creation. There is no right or wrong in art, it is whatever it is. Everything is art. So, why does the world need art? Maybe we need it to see ourselves in its reflection.
“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time”. ~Thomas Merton