10
march 2021
THE COMET
WHAT EVEN IS ART? LOCAL creatives WEIGH IN
The infamous Andy Warhol “Brillo Box” from 1964 - often brought up in ‘what is art’ discussions. This one sold for over 3 million dollars in a 2010 Christie’s auction.
by ron evans What is art? I hate the question on some level. But it comes up a lot in the arts community, at coffee shops, galleries and late night semidrunken ramblings over Negronis. And while I don’t love the question itself, I do like how the answers tend to steer the dialog into a thought-provoking discussion on creativity. When RadarStation was still in my house in East Wenatchee several years back there was an incident that has stuck with me concerning this question. It was during the second opening for our Forms: Invasion of The Naked Humans show which was an eclectic showcase of nude sketches, paintings, photography and even a few live nude humans hanging around. Literally. Toward the end of the evening a local artist walked into the show. After a perusal of the creative offerings on exhibit this person began to (rather noticeably) chastise the show, the artists involved and the gallery itself. At first I tried to ignore this seemingly
passionate voice of dissent. Any collection of art is fair game for criticism after all. But the tone seemed to be getting a bit more spicy - at one point he used the word vacuous to describe the show and I almost stepped into the conversation. Although I had to look it up to see if them was fightin’ words first. vac·u·ous /ˈvakyooəs/ adjective : having or showing a lack of thought or intelligence; mindless. Why, them are fightin’ words! But then I noticed some of the artists gathering around this person to engage in a discussion about art so I held back and let it play out. Ultimately the discourse ended with a bit of an agree to disagree settlement. But not before the conversation had gotten quite deep and philosophical on the topic of art for art’s sake, and the exchange ended up being one of my favorite memories about that era of running the gallery. Some of the artists felt attacked and defended the style, subject and technique
of their works. Some felt compelled to defend and explain RadarStation itself. Some of them were simply curious what this person found so objectionable about the show - the nudity didn’t seem to be a factor. But they all calmly engaged in a chat about what art even was. At some point the young man turned to me and asked “Why are you even an artist?” It’s not the first time I’d been asked this and I gave my usual answer which is “I don’t know if I am an artist. I just like to make shit.” I realize this is a bit of a copout answer, but it also happens to be a true (albeit simplified) account of how I look at my creative output. I’m a maker. A designer. A curious tinkerer of miscellaneous mediums. And maybe an artist. He seemed satisfied with that response and moved on. But it got another round of conversation going. Why are you an artist? Why make art? But most of all...what even is art? As it’s a frequent point of conversation amongst artists and art enthusiasts alike, I wanted to delve a little deeper into this question. Rather than wax on about the topic myself, I reached out to see what members of our local arts community had
to say on this. Some of them responded immediately with a thoughtful but succinct mission statement. Some took several days to ponder such a vague yet grand question. And a few admitted they couldn’t really find the words to sum up their thoughts on something so ethereal. What I love most about the responses is they almost read like a collection of poems. Maybe this is poetry? What is poetry? No, no...that’s for another article. “What is art? I picture a panel of academics and historians deliberating all sorts of ideas here, but I think it’s quite simple. Art is the language of the collective experience. Art is found in a million places every day...it could be how you cut the banana for your kid, compose an e-mail, or prune the tree. Some of us make a practice of expressing how the world feels to us (we’re called artists) but all of us communicate what we’re experiencing in some way - and we experience much, much more than we’re conscious of. I prefer the question, ‘What is art for?’, to which I’d answer, ‘Art creates empathy.’” - Lindsay Breidenthal painter, muralist “To me Art is natural as speaking. It’s the
