what is art?
The arts did not fall from the sky for the enjoyment of humanity. No not at all.
The arts emerged as a societal necessity and that's why they developed a societal functionality. But what is that societal necessity and what is that societal functionality?
The arts emerged as a societal necessity and that's why they developed a societal functionality. But what is that societal necessity and what is that societal functionality?
Tribal societies covered over 99% of the whole time-span of knowledge producing human societies and the real initiators of the arts were the tribal men of knowledge who used the arts to share their knowledge about the working of reality with their fellow tribesmen. I should add that they were the initiators of the arts by sheer necessity. They were indeed feeling that their primary role was to do all they could so that their societies could reproduce in order to ensure the survival of the species. And to realize this they recoursed to practices that Early-Modernity later termed as being "the arts". Yes the application of the word art to these immemorial practices dates indeed from the Early phase of Modernity in Europe, during the Renaissance, when artists working for the church were enrolled by the new rich long distance merchants. They were commissioned to "illustrate" the narrative of their new worldview made of obedience to the imperatives imposed on them by the reason that is at work within capital and the new values derived from that obedience like individualism and the possession of material signs of richness that they thought differentiates them positively from the rest of the citizenry. And that's how along the entirety of Early-Modernity the visual arts were constrained by the new rich to represent what I call "the 3 obliged subjects": landscapes around the mansions, portraits of those living in the mansions and stills of what lays on the tables in the mansions. That's what in High-Modernity the avant-garde has wanted to eradicate with a vengeance...
In other words the traditional function of the arts relates to the necessity to ensure societal conservation and reproduction. Societies or groupings of individuals are the mode of organization of all living species. Indeed when a society collapses the individuals die and when the individuals die the species suffers the risk of being erased from the surface of the earth. The memory of the need for societal survival and reproduction is inscribed somewhere in the code of the individuals predictive computation machine that is the brain. But unfortunately, in the last 100 years of Modernity, humanity lost that memory...
The societal functionality of the arts is never really talked about. It is something like a given, as if there is a tacit agreement, that never was conceptualized. I think this is the reason why the aim of Modernism was never really questioned. Let's remember that the aim of Modernism was the search to represent deeper dimensions of reality than was had been done in the past which unmistakably implied that:
Let us just add here that, over 99% of the time-span of the history of human societies, all forms of art - visual – music – dance were sharing the same societal functionality but each according to its own specificity.
In other words the traditional function of the arts relates to the necessity to ensure societal conservation and reproduction. Societies or groupings of individuals are the mode of organization of all living species. Indeed when a society collapses the individuals die and when the individuals die the species suffers the risk of being erased from the surface of the earth. The memory of the need for societal survival and reproduction is inscribed somewhere in the code of the individuals predictive computation machine that is the brain. But unfortunately, in the last 100 years of Modernity, humanity lost that memory...
The societal functionality of the arts is never really talked about. It is something like a given, as if there is a tacit agreement, that never was conceptualized. I think this is the reason why the aim of Modernism was never really questioned. Let's remember that the aim of Modernism was the search to represent deeper dimensions of reality than was had been done in the past which unmistakably implied that:
- or the artist was co-opting the scientist as the man of knowledge of the new era
- or the artist needed to transform himself, from a craftsman, into a man of knowledge
Let us just add here that, over 99% of the time-span of the history of human societies, all forms of art - visual – music – dance were sharing the same societal functionality but each according to its own specificity.
- visual art = convey visual signs, via the eyes, to the brain of 'citizens' to share the meaning of the worldview that was affirming in the minds of the societally recognized men of knowledge (shaman, priests, long distance merchants in Early-Modernity
- music = induce feelings and predispositions to forget the here and now so that the individual can let go and get a more profound grasp on the visual signs around them. Music is then specifically composed to predispose the public to follow given actions (religious music, military music, musak music, ...)
- dance = leads to a trance which 'illuminates' the mind to the meaning of knowledge
thinking, painting, and writing.
The radical differences between the history of Western modernity and China's present entry into it offers a useful mirror for deconstructing our Western history. I have been observing China for the last 30 years and, the least I can say is that, this has shifted my outlook on life, art, and modernity.
I'm not actively participating in the working of societies. I lived in Europe the first 35 years of my life then I stayed in China for the next 15. By the year 2000 China was at the height of the side-effects of its rapid economic development and to preserve my health I decided to live in the US but after some 10 years I grew impatient. My mind was not accepting any longer to see how Americans, who are a bunch of really decent and friendly people, are suffering from the stupidity of their empire and I decided to spend my last years, where I have felt the freest ever, in China.
All those years around the world I have been observing and thinking about what I saw. I'm interested to understand cultural, economic, societal and ecological evolution. I feel that a clear intellectual understanding procures a high dose of aesthetic pleasure and so I write and paint about my thinking hoping to preserve and, if at all possible, to increase the aesthetic pleasure I experienced initially.
What I have been observing along all these years is the rapid fall of Modernity in the abyss of societal incoherence. I feel indeed in my mind and my eyes that we are living at the end of a historical era and that on the horizon we can start to see the gray fog line of what awaits us in the future. As you can imagine I'm passionately trying to decipher what is in that fog. My thinking and writing are thus about discovering the emerging patterns of what comes after Modernity. In my painting I try to give visual signs of such patterns that I feel are slowly shaping a new historical era that I call After-Modernity.
Writing and painting are complementary to me; thinking about what is reality, writing about that thinking, and painting with all that in mind. My painting is thus like an extension of that thinking and writing. I feel that painting helps me to clarify my ideas and project a deeper and richer meaning. While in my thinking I delve into something I’m conscious about my painting is more like a subconscious extension of the exploration of that thinking. The subconscious sets our minds free from all the stop signs to knowledge that we have accumulated along the path of our socialization and societal conditioning. It lets us see out of that box and discover dimensions of reality that are hidden to our conscious selves.
I bet that you have understood by now that the artist I want to be is one who transforms into a man of knowledge at the image of the animist men of knowledge. Alas I feel like a man of knowledge without a society; as if that society has still to emerge...
What I have been observing along all these years is the rapid fall of Modernity in the abyss of societal incoherence. I feel indeed in my mind and my eyes that we are living at the end of a historical era and that on the horizon we can start to see the gray fog line of what awaits us in the future. As you can imagine I'm passionately trying to decipher what is in that fog. My thinking and writing are thus about discovering the emerging patterns of what comes after Modernity. In my painting I try to give visual signs of such patterns that I feel are slowly shaping a new historical era that I call After-Modernity.
Writing and painting are complementary to me; thinking about what is reality, writing about that thinking, and painting with all that in mind. My painting is thus like an extension of that thinking and writing. I feel that painting helps me to clarify my ideas and project a deeper and richer meaning. While in my thinking I delve into something I’m conscious about my painting is more like a subconscious extension of the exploration of that thinking. The subconscious sets our minds free from all the stop signs to knowledge that we have accumulated along the path of our socialization and societal conditioning. It lets us see out of that box and discover dimensions of reality that are hidden to our conscious selves.
I bet that you have understood by now that the artist I want to be is one who transforms into a man of knowledge at the image of the animist men of knowledge. Alas I feel like a man of knowledge without a society; as if that society has still to emerge...
