“Virtuosi” by Kent Salisbury
John Dewey, the Twentieth Century American philosopher, psychologist and educational philosopher, described art as the “most universal and freest form of communication.” He also described it as “the most effective mode of communications that exists.” Oxford Languages defines “communication” as “imparting information” and “conveying or sharing ideas and feelings.” A number of you that offered your definitions of art used the term “expression” — a term similar to communication, which Oxford Languages defines as “the process of making one’s thoughts or feelings known.”
Conor Oberst, a contemporary American indie rock songwriter known for his work in Bright Eyes, says it somewhat more succinctly. “Art is essentially communication. It doesn’t exist in a vacuum.That’s why people make art, so other people can relate to it.” And then there was Oliviero Toscani, known as a “provocative” fashion photographer, who said “Art is the highest expression of human communication. And by ‘art’ I don’t mean only painting or sculpture or the ancient and traditional arts, but above all the modern, mass arts, like: photography, design, fashion, architecture, cinematography and soon. Creativity is communication.”
Irene Fascher shared an article from Medium with us — “Art: A Window into the Depths of Human Expression” by Mahnoor Fatima. While the article offered various definitionsof art from famous artists, the author’s own definition resonated. Art is “a worldwide language that doesn’t care where you were born or what words you speak… [It is] … a quiet dialog with the artist, even if they lived on the other side of the planet centuries ago.”
Think about that idea – that language, culture and time may not change the thoughts and feelings experienced when viewing an artist’s painting, hearing a composer’s music or watching a ballerina dance. What do you feel when you see the pictures of early cave art? While it is not possible to know exactly what that early artist’s motivation was – to illustrate the story of a great hunter? perhaps to ask the gods for a successful hunt? – we can still feel the importance of the drawings to the artist.
Centuries later, artists created paintings and reliefs in temples to tell ordinary Egyptians about their rulers, the Egyptian pharaohs. A pharaoh’s lineage, accomplishments, relationship to the gods — all this was communicated on those walls. And those stories still intrigue us today and spark our imaginations. The artist that portrays a realistic scene is – at the very least – communicating something he or she has seen. Art is, however, more than a simple visual replication or depiction of a thing, a person or an event. It does not end with that simple depiction by the artist. Instead, art – whether visual, auditory or even tactile – reminds the viewer of his or her own experiences and evokes emotions. It stimulates us in ways that other things do not. It is a conversation.
— Pat Jackson