What is art? What is life?
If art is to speak what cannot be spoken, then life, in part, is to find each individual unspoken word until the unspoken becomes a philosophy. When art becomes life and life becomes art, it could create countless visual statements in painting, sculpture, poem, film, dance … .
My backpack journey across Europe this summer soon became an art itinerary. I went through countless art museums, such as the Romermuseum in Germany, Galerie Goap in the Czech Republic, the Brera Art Gallery in Milan, the Kunstmuseum Basel in Switzerland, and the Scottish National Gallery. I also toured the famous 2019 Venice Biennale, Art Basel and Art Liste in Basel. I saw individual artists use their talent and style to talk about art. From 2000 year old Roma stone sculptures to modern paintings; from a man-made water tunnel inside a huge balloon to today’s 5G high tech. They all try to express their ideas about life through their surroundings. The need to express what people see, feel, think, hear and admire is the spiritual level of human evolution. Artists choose the visual forms to allow people to experience deeply through their visual sense but all the five senses could be translated into the ideas of art.
https://youtube.com/shorts/koKOblm45xY?feature=share
I was drying laundry in a coin operated laundrette in Penzance, UK after days of travelling. After depositing a few coins, the fancy front-faced glass door machine indicated I had 15 minutes to dry my freshly washed clothes. I stood in front quietly watching the action; suddenly the 15 minutes were like watching my entire life journey in a short film. The circles were consistently running until the final beep. I thought of my passion towards art, the joy and heartache went along. Would it all eventually come to one final beep? It might be the final beep sound of a monitor in a hospital bed. The laundry dryer becomes a perfect symbolic statement of a life in art to me. In a short life span, what is your art of life?
Lily Kostrzewa,
US managing Editor, also professional artist at www.LilyKostrzewa.com
Hi Lily,
It sounds like a marathon of visiting exhibitions, the dream of every art lover.
Your video of the dryer in its simplicity and comment on our short life span looked at as a drying cycle at the laundrette with the final beep gave a very strong message. I hope to see more of your videos here and think it’s time the Art Lantern started having video reviews, especially since we’re an image based culture and the magazine is about the visual arts.
I read this article a few times, and what beautiful language, what beautiful words. “If art is to speak what cannot be spoken”. Recent science show art to consist of non-verbal languages. I did a tour of European galleries with my partner decades ago, when the verbal and intellectual first took precedence. In Barcelona saw a postmodern work consisting of a few objects. In Paris, London, Brussels, elsewhere, we saw the same show, same objects. At first we thought it was by the same artist but no, these were all works by different artists, they just looked alike. In each gallery the curator expressed pride in their postmodern show. Nietzsche’s ghost then appeared saying art is dead, you can see its desiccated body. Lily, it looks like you had better luck a few years later. Yes, now art is often what cannot be said in words… it always was.
What a powerful message!!