Or: The One Where Muin Quickly Relates "Arting".
People ask "How do you...?"
Regularly.
I love that shit! LOVE IT! There is no end to my interest in talking about "How" I made something. If you know "HOW" and have suggestions for me, because you do the thing, too...HELLS YES, I want to talk with you about "HOW"...!
Actually, my next post will be a "How I..." post. But, for this one, I answer the question that is rarely asked, but should always be.
"Why...?"
"Why do you Art?"
Get into the Way Back Machine, and we will see the Proto-Muin doing art at a very young age. Not just drawing, either. Painting. Carving was big with the Proto-Muin. Using a pocket knife to carve bits from the woodpile. Sometimes trying my little pudgy hand at stone carving.
AND, and this is an important and, AND I READ ABOUT THE ART! I spent hours pouring over pictures of art. Of craft. Of Modern. Of historical. All the Art. I loved looking and reading about it. In early art classes I was often asked "Why do we do this?"
"Why" is the question most people should, and consequently don't, ask themselves. Do you have busy hands? A bizarre nervous tic that forces you into acts of pottery? No. That would be awesome...but, no.
What about some deep need for YET ANOTHER carved lintel? Somnambulism that results in random conte drawings of hands?
No.
Why artists art is integral to being an artist. Ask a carpenter why they carp. Go ahead, they'll look at you like you're a doofus. They will.
It's what they do. Don't judge.
Sure, there are some out there who do their various art forms for the ever present need of cash. And, don't get me wrong, money is nice. It's a need. Can't art if you have nothing with which to art, and you die of starvation.
But, you don't actually do your art for the cash. You do your art for the need. Creating a thing that fills a void in an otherwise full universe. The world is packed with stuff. PACKED!! But...
But, there is something missing. Some thing. A need is not being filled by the object, or image you are making. This isn't hubris. (It may be, but not to the Odyssian scale one might expect)
There is a hole in the world that the artist sees. The crafts-person notices that gap. We work to fill that void. We act to make the world just a little more complete.
Even the art that we see as "pretty". Or the art that has a "message". It fills a need. Creating the work is a part of completing the world in which we live.
Some of it is practice for the bigger piece we plan to make. many studies, sketches, maquettes of something not yet extant.
And Some of these works are intensely practical. I know many artists who make tools, clothes, various useful items. Now, why do they make them differently than every other one ever made?
Think about it. Clothes. We need clothes to protect us from the elements. So, why are there so many variations? Cloth? Billions of kinds! Shirts? Billions of variations of cuts/styles! We want a world where we can not just cover our selves from sunburn and cold, but we want a world where "Han Shot First!" is proudly displayed! Where Captain Picard says "Make it so!" on our chests, and we harbor a secret wish that the hotty across from us at the table will DAMN WELL MAKE IT SO!!! We want French cuffs on our silk shirts, because we have just made the BEST CUFFLINKS IN HISTORY!!! The gods, themselves will envy my new hat!!!
And tools...so many tools. Some very different tools do the same job. "Why...?"
Knives? They cut. Okay, make a sharp thing. A thing we can hold, and cut other things. Simple? NO! Our hands are different shapes, and we have different grips! We are cutting different things!
We need different knives! They each have a job. A different job. And a different purpose. We need them to perform different tasks. And we even need them to look different from each other. Why? This is mine...I like green...I like mahogany...I like bronze...my knife is bare bones...my knife is ornate Greco-Roman...I use a tanto blade...
AND, we have different opinions about what "attractive" is. Was. Might be. We even conjugate our aesthetics!
Drawings, paintings, printings, ink work! It is communication. We don't just communicate with words. Words are easier. So why use images? Because "words fail."
Not all the time, but, they do. When I say, have you seen "X"? and the audience says "...no..." How, then do I communicate that image?
Not just the absolute image, the Platonic Theory of Form, but MY impression of that image. I know a woman named Anne. Have you seen her? When I ask that, I ask not just to state that a woman I know is named Anne, and that she is, indeed, visible in the regular light spectrum; but also that you know her on sight as do I. I see her neck, The gentle swan-like curve, the caramel shades of tan that gently fade from one hue to the next, accentuating the interplay of light on the surface, and sleek muscles twining beneath in a dance of purposeful grace. You know...? Anne?
And, yet. Words fail.
So, We paint! We draw. We etch. We CARVE!
These are the things we do to communicate in this world.
"Why do you art?"
Many reasons.
One reason.
The reason.
To fill a void the world has put before me.
More "How" coming soon.
