The importance of art in difficult times

In this post, I want to try and give an explanation of why I think art is important, especially now.

Here’s a video of this post:

On the importance of art in difficult times

Watch this video on YouTube.

If you can’t see the video above, click here to watch it.

My very first encounter with art as a child was probably a children’s book, or a song, or maybe a poster on the wall. But from there on, I have remained an avid consumer of art throughout my life. At some point I’ve discovered the joy of reading (and of being read to), and later of looking at paintings and photographs and sculptures, trying to figure what they meant for me, and what they meant for the artist.

As a teen I discovered that I was really drawn to artist biographies (I still am) – I was fascinated by how these people spent their lives running after something that had so much meaning for themselves, and often so little tangible value for the world. Or how one big hit changed everything for them. I found out that you could invent worlds by telling stories or painting pictures, that you could change how people think simply by making something up, and how you could move people by showing them a fragment of your thoughts, put into a narrative or enclosed into music or paint.

I started to make art myself, at first only to express my innermost thoughts and ideas, not thinking about anyone else. I simply made art because it felt good, and it was fun. Later in art school I learnt how to focus these ideas into projects that were interesting to other people. And that this doesn’t work all the time, and sometimes you’re the only one who resonates with what you do.

I learnt along the way what was expected in the world of commercial art – in our times, unfortunately too often the acceptance of very low pay for a lot of creative work. This system seems not to value making art a lot. Unfortunately, it’s a breaking point for many people who want to be professionals in their field of art, and it can stop them from making things altogether.

And still, in the end I somehow never stopped making, or consuming art. Especially in these difficult times we live through right now, world-wide, I believe art is more important for us than we realize. We need to get away from the crisis, from the scary thoughts, and look at pictures, stories or photos that can take our imagination away to other places. We need to stay aware of the beauty of our world. We need to stay active and hone our skills, keep our minds occupied, and get ideas and stories out of our heads. It’s what connects us with each other, even if we can’t connect directly right now.

I’ve often thought that what I chose to do, making art, is rather meaningless compared to other professions. Its value can be so hard to grasp. And in fact, I’m so grateful for all the people that keep our world running right now, who go to their jobs and visibly help people every day. You know who they are (and if you’re one of them: thank you!).

But I’ve also started to see, that for almost everyone of us, art is also an integral part of our lives, something to hold on to – often in the form of spending time with a book, a movie, or a piece of music, or actually doing something creative: taking a photo, painting, singing, writing. Making art is not just passing time while you wait for the catastrophe to happen, it gives us meaning and connection (to each other, to the world), it inspires us and can take our thoughts into so many different directions. In a way, art is like the little junctions that keep cells interlinked, it can bind the different parts of our lives, our thoughts, our communities, together.

I find this rather philosophical look at art quite interesting, and for me, it helps to put things in perspective, whenever I doubt the value of making art. That’s why I keep doing the things that I do, and I hope you too will find something worthwhile in this line of thought.

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I’m currently offering all my sketching classes for as low as $8. If you want to keep yourself occupied, learn sketching and help me run this blog, give them a try.