The Two Basic Forms of Art Expression
www.michaelsortomme.com
I rediscovered the joy of words later in life, with the seasoned eyes and hands of a visual artist. It was a perfect fit, the flow of words moving almost as smoothly as paint on paper, knife on canvas.
Sitting at the knees of my parents, watching them paint, caught in their passionate worlds only they were privy to; I soon realized that there were many forms and reasons for art. My mother specialized in symbolic art, meant for specific audiences to convey precise messages, while my father painted rolling, constantly moving land and seascapes. They depended on art to put food on the table, clients visiting the studio, the largest room of our home, looking for just the right tone of teal to match their sofas. Money motivated some paintings, the ones that were unusually pastel in shade, fitting the perfect pre-purchased frames. Other paintings came directly from the heart, alizarin crimson shades of dark stories untold and dangerous staring faces. They were all for sale. There was no such thing as holding onto one’s baby. The more art sold, the more food bought, the electric bill paid, gas in the car, more clients by recommendation came.
By the time I entered college, I knew the difference between art for one’s self and art for the world, regardless of money exchanged or value given. Live from one’s art, the difference is plain to see…
Art for the Self is Art Therapy, a process of embracing one’s hands, eyes and souls in a dance with brush, pen and paper, in order to express one’s pain, longing, and regret. It is a tool of isolating particular emotional maladies and gathers information detailing abuse and neglect for use by psychotherapists. Art Therapy is not for the public’s harsh critiques or used for pay as illustration or other’s fancy and entertainment.
Art for the World is Communicative Art, designed and manufactured for specific reasons and audiences. Communicative Art carries a message, without an audience to view it, it has no purpose. Purpose is the motivator, focus is the tool, art is the final outcome, an illustrative story complete with detail.
Neither form of visual art expression is superior to the other, for they are separate categories, set in motion for separate reasons that do not, often, intersect. Art Therapy validates the self by the actual creation of it. There are no judges or awards given for exposed secrets or details of torture, the art just is, a product of self discovery, purging and starting anew. Communicative Art uses the synergy of importance and talent to communicate a specific point of view and is invalid in the present without an audience; good or bane makes no difference. Communicative Art is a symbiotic process between artist and viewer, two equal parts caught in the interaction of ideas. Validation for the artist becomes a mute point, because it’s the interaction that counts, it is the fuel that dictates the artist’s next piece. In simple terms, the two different art-forms are akin to the difference between diary and novel.
I am a Communicative Artist with paint, pencil and words. I work with a mission in mind, with a focus that drives until the entire picture is revealed. It is always nice when I receive a compliment, but that’s not the motivator, the intoxicant that keeps me driven to be heard. It is the audience itself, the spark of new ideas that art generates that keeps me going. I see it in the faces of others when the passion of forgotten desires surface, when nature melds with the mind. Magick happens then and lives are changed. It makes no difference if the viewer likes it or not, they are engaged and feeling! That’s the rush for the Communicative Artist: someone gets it, on some level, at one time. That’s enough to make the heart sing, to be sure!
I rediscovered the joy of words later in life, with the seasoned eyes and hands of a visual artist. It was a perfect fit, the flow of words moving almost as smoothly as paint on paper, knife on canvas.
Sitting at the knees of my parents, watching them paint, caught in their passionate worlds only they were privy to; I soon realized that there were many forms and reasons for art. My mother specialized in symbolic art, meant for specific audiences to convey precise messages, while my father painted rolling, constantly moving land and seascapes. They depended on art to put food on the table, clients visiting the studio, the largest room of our home, looking for just the right tone of teal to match their sofas. Money motivated some paintings, the ones that were unusually pastel in shade, fitting the perfect pre-purchased frames. Other paintings came directly from the heart, alizarin crimson shades of dark stories untold and dangerous staring faces. They were all for sale. There was no such thing as holding onto one’s baby. The more art sold, the more food bought, the electric bill paid, gas in the car, more clients by recommendation came.
By the time I entered college, I knew the difference between art for one’s self and art for the world, regardless of money exchanged or value given. Live from one’s art, the difference is plain to see…
Art for the Self is Art Therapy, a process of embracing one’s hands, eyes and souls in a dance with brush, pen and paper, in order to express one’s pain, longing, and regret. It is a tool of isolating particular emotional maladies and gathers information detailing abuse and neglect for use by psychotherapists. Art Therapy is not for the public’s harsh critiques or used for pay as illustration or other’s fancy and entertainment.
Art for the World is Communicative Art, designed and manufactured for specific reasons and audiences. Communicative Art carries a message, without an audience to view it, it has no purpose. Purpose is the motivator, focus is the tool, art is the final outcome, an illustrative story complete with detail.
Neither form of visual art expression is superior to the other, for they are separate categories, set in motion for separate reasons that do not, often, intersect. Art Therapy validates the self by the actual creation of it. There are no judges or awards given for exposed secrets or details of torture, the art just is, a product of self discovery, purging and starting anew. Communicative Art uses the synergy of importance and talent to communicate a specific point of view and is invalid in the present without an audience; good or bane makes no difference. Communicative Art is a symbiotic process between artist and viewer, two equal parts caught in the interaction of ideas. Validation for the artist becomes a mute point, because it’s the interaction that counts, it is the fuel that dictates the artist’s next piece. In simple terms, the two different art-forms are akin to the difference between diary and novel.
I am a Communicative Artist with paint, pencil and words. I work with a mission in mind, with a focus that drives until the entire picture is revealed. It is always nice when I receive a compliment, but that’s not the motivator, the intoxicant that keeps me driven to be heard. It is the audience itself, the spark of new ideas that art generates that keeps me going. I see it in the faces of others when the passion of forgotten desires surface, when nature melds with the mind. Magick happens then and lives are changed. It makes no difference if the viewer likes it or not, they are engaged and feeling! That’s the rush for the Communicative Artist: someone gets it, on some level, at one time. That’s enough to make the heart sing, to be sure!
No comments have been added yet.
