What is Art…
At this point in my life, I feel I have seen a lot of art. It has been a very fortunate experience that started when I was growing up and seeing art at home that my parents collected. I travelled and went to world museums. Later as an art student, and while getting my masters degree, I immersed myself in contemporary art, especially art since photography.
Whenever we travel we find a museum, even our children want to find a new place to see art. I have found that art is a way of living. How you look at things becomes art, and art becomes what you see. There’s visual art, my primary field, although I merge writing, living and performance and sound into this realm.
Often the subject of good art and bad art comes to my attention. Naturally, we like to see something beautiful and assume that is good art. I believe that artwork that we don’t like can be good art as well. I also think there is bad art out there. There is a discerning difference between good and bad art, and the more you look, explore and educate yourself, the way you view art will change. Art is a progression that builds on itself and on our growth as humans culturally evolve. There is a natural movement for artist to create something new- truly created. Art mimics this cycle and its not always pretty.
Sometimes this brings about distasteful art, even though it may have a useful place and value. I would ask viewers to be open-minded, you don’t have to take it home with you, and you might learn something by looking at all types of artwork. Often when someone really doesn’t like a piece of art, it sticks with them, so there is a reaction and stimulation to the idea that the art evokes, and I think that is meaningful art and thus, good art.
The camera changed the way we look at art when it was invented, because it allowed people to make representational art without creating a painting or sculpture. Photography opened artist to the concepts of abstraction, conceptualism, and more recently technological applications. Mixed media art and the use of technology have resulted in a sequence of new mediums as artist look towards creating and expressing something new. Today you can expect to go into a gallery or museum and hear sounds coming out of the walls, have images projected on objects, and see any number of things we don’t consider conventional.
At the Arts Center this year, I hope to have a little taste of some unconventional art in our galleries. I hope you will have a chance to stop by and keep an open mind. At the same time, we will be exhibiting traditional artwork juxtaposed with the newer work. We are products of our human tradition, and I think conventional work is as important as contemporary work to help us as humans relate to and discover ourselves.
For anyone who has the opportunity to attend the Italy excursion hosted by the AC, you will be in for an education about art at the Venice Biennale, the most renowned art event for contemporary artist in the world. I am sure you will see art you don’t like or understand, art you are curious about and art you love. Art is about opening the mind up a little bit, and letting something else in, and I think that carries through into other aspects of life; tolerance, love and openness.
-Cornelia Tobey
Gallery Director
