Why is art a hobby?

[lost_in_thought]

I just spent four years getting a degree in Art. Art is my life, my profession, my career of choice.

Not that I'm against having art as a hobby. Just a little recognition would be nice... (although this is only my second post! )

But to get a discussion rolling:

I have come to the conclusion, after only four short years of study, that the history of art, as we understand it, is cyclical.

The earliest forms of art can be found in cave paintings. To these early civilizations art was communication. As time went on this communication developed language and written text. From there numbers and mathematics were discovered and art was found in nature. Art grew with philosophy.

But then something happened. The world was thrown into the dark ages. the world of art collapsed. But traces of it remained in the church. From that time on to nearly the present, 200 or so years ago, Art was directly linked to the Church and it grew both in necessity and in its direction. As before Art was considered a form of communication. Then Art spread into this expanding world we know today and it just took off in thousands of directions starting from landscape painting, to expressionism, to cubism, to modernism, to found object sculpture and on and on.

I have a theory that someday, perhaps all too soon, the world of art as we know it will collapse and will have to be reborn.

thoughts? Am I crazy?

 

[lost_in_thought]

oh, my title for my senior thesis paper was "Art is Dead" or something similar to that.

It had mixed reviews...

 

[artjack]

there is alot of coruption in the art world, there is no chalange in its production, a house decorator could be veiwed as a modern artist.art is an investment I think, it is not for today so alot of todays modern art wont feature I believe, it will have lost all its chalange in the future as it has nothing of the future within it to have a future, but the old great paintings will always be great.

 

[lost_in_thought]

there is alot of coruption in the art world, there is no chalange in its production, a house decorator could be veiwed as a modern artist.art is an investment I think, it is not for today so alot of todays modern art wont feature I believe, it will have lost all its chalange in the future as it has nothing of the future within it to have a future, but the old great paintings will always be great.

I agree with you by what you said about art losing its challenge. But recently, since graduation, I've come to understand that there is art in the mundane too. Cleaning or decorating a house can evoke a "moment" in time where the one cleaning or decorating or an innocent bystander can come to some hidden understanding about either the importance of, or the gift of, or the sacrifice of or whatever valuable trait this person cleaning or decorating a house might share with themselves or with this observer. In a that moment, art exists in it's elemental form. True aesthetic relies on the emotion between forms, lines and color. In a strange way, the world with its people, animals and nature all exist as forms, lines and color; we are almost luminous beings as we are seen by others as light reflects off us. In this way, that "moment" of aesthetic or emotional understanding, is "painted" or captured by light bouncing off those involved. To some, this would be considered just a time when two or more people "get it" or think alike or just respond to a situation in a similar way but don't feel any emotional satisfaction from the moment. I would like to believe, as a Christian, that these types of moments correspond with moments existing in Heaven on Earth. Two or more people (regardless if they're Christians or not) sharing in one moment of emotional understanding or some truism can somehow unite their understanding of their world, if only for a moment. I believe that moment is a direct happening of a moment in God's Kingdom.

 

[morgainesapphire]

I think art won't completely die out. However, I think it's grown stale with very little new happening. Yeah sure we have digital, but theirs nothing like the feeling of dried paint on canvas. Right now we don't have anywhere new to go. No limits to push because most of what can be done has been done.

By the way, Hi, I'm a 25 year old Art student from Indiana. Specializing in 2d Art Painting and Figure Drawing. I got a late start, but I finally found my passion. Anyhow, just thought I'd introduce myself.

 

[artjack]

I agree with you by what you said about art losing its challenge. But recently, since graduation, I've come to understand that there is art in the mundane too. Cleaning or decorating a house can evoke a "moment" in time where the one cleaning or decorating or an innocent bystander can come to some hidden understanding about either the importance of, or the gift of, or the sacrifice of or whatever valuable trait this person cleaning or decorating a house might share with themselves or with this observer. In a that moment, art exists in it's elemental form. True aesthetic relies on the emotion between forms, lines and color. In a strange way, the world with its people, animals and nature all exist as forms, lines and color; we are almost luminous beings as we are seen by others as light reflects off us. In this way, that "moment" of aesthetic or emotional understanding, is "painted" or captured by light bouncing off those involved. To some, this would be considered just a time when two or more people "get it" or think alike or just respond to a situation in a similar way but don't feel any emotional satisfaction from the moment. I would like to believe, as a Christian, that these types of moments correspond with moments existing in Heaven on Earth. Two or more people (regardless if they're Christians or not) sharing in one moment of emotional understanding or some truism can somehow unite their understanding of their world, if only for a moment. I believe that moment is a direct happening of a moment in God's Kingdom.

I dont think so as such, if the right people dont have the power of leadership it will not be historic enough to be considered, that is why chosing leaders if we do indeed chose them is important as they shape the future and art is no different. in the 60's there were very poor choises of leaders or role models and those decisions has degraded our lives today, In art just like the world, you will find the bible is correct that the world is degenerateing and not advancing & evil is increasing, that does not mean we stop trying, art is not for today, it is for the future.