Guest Blogger - Andrew Smith

"Color is the keyboard, the eyes are the harmonies, the soul is the piano with many strings. The artist is the hand that plays, touching one key or another, to cause vibrations in the soul."
- Kandinsky

The definition of art is difficult to pin down. Ask a designer, a poet, a musician or any two random photographers for a definition, and most will stumble for words, with no two definitions matching in scope. Before the 1750s, the term was used more generally to note any well-honed skill. During the Romantic period, the word was gradually refined to mean a more deliberate act; one of intentionally arranging elements of one's craft, often to invoke a reaction of emotions and/or ideas.

Tolstoy urged us not to think of art as an attempt at pleasure, but instead as an essential part of humanity, a communication of sorts. The artist communicates to the participants, who in turn often offer communications back or amongst each other. Emotional experiences can be conveyed through this artistic expression. Graphic designer Milton Glaser argues that art is an attempt to intensify perceptions.

What continues to strike me as I read more about artists and their works in many different mediums is the interconnected nature of the works, the techniques and the artists themselves. In Greek mythology, the "sisterhood" of muses inspired creation of artistic endeavors. While different time periods offered various origins for the muses, each showed a relationship or connection between them, rather than completely isolated beings.

In many ways, I view all art as one universal form. From very early in our childhoods, we've made efforts to create through manipulation of sounds as we learn to speak, arrangement of visible shapes as we stack blocks or create empires in the sandbox, or combinations of all sorts of odd ingredients into imagined food masterpieces in the kitchen when mom and dad aren't looking. The need to create is part of our humanness, and the methods of doing so are possibly all variations on a universal expression.

The visual artist Wassily Kandinsky found a strong connection between music and visual art, with color not defined differently but instead expressed through different means. When discussing form and expression in The Blaue Reiter Almanac, he notes that we must appreciate multiple forms of that expression:

"This statement must be understood correctly. For each artist his means of expression ( = form) is the best, since it embodies best what he is compelled to reveal. From this principle people often draw the wrong conclusion: that this means of expression is or should be the best for other artists as well.

Since form is only an expression of content, and content is different with different artists, it is clear that there may be many different forms at the same time that are equally good."

The internet, and perhaps more so the blogging world has opened up the possibility of seeing the artistic pursuit of many more people as they grow into their art. When reading online interviews and biographies of online artists, whether photographers, painters, writers, dancers, chefs, etc., the number of times the artists mention interests in other arts is not small. While I have no scientific data to back it up, try rereading the interests of photographers posted online and note how many either already participate as musicians or state that they wish they had greater musical abilities.

People diagnosed with "synesthesia" have an involuntary reaction of one sense when stimulated in another, such as hearing visual items or seeing musical pitches. Perhaps Kandinsky's use of a connected use of color between the arts is more inherently appropriate than we initially believe, having unfortunately "grown" out of this connectedness in a world that wants to break apart and dissect our experiences.

Could our artistic pursuits be enriched if we learn not to fight the interrelationship of our senses and the various arts that attempt to reach them? As Glaser seems to imply, intensifying our art works through the appreciation and understanding of other artistic mediums should be a positive approach.

Great chefs can approach wonderful tastes and smells through inspirational music, as can photographers. As photographers, we can learn not only from viewing online and printed items about visual arts, but also from food writers and chefs, poets and biographers, dancers and musical improvisers. Be willing to photograph what you experience with all of our senses.

The Fugue by Wassily Kandinsky
http://artandaesthetics.wordpress.com/2006/07/28/the-fugue-wassily-kandinsky/

WebMuseum: Kandinsky
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/kandinsky/

Kandinsky's Color Theory
http://www.schoenberg.at/4_exhibits/asc/Kandinsky/Farbe_e.htm

Comments

[Jeff]

Wow, this guy sounds pretty smart. Were did you find him? ;)