THE ROLE OF THE ARTIST IN SOCIETY

In ancient times, artists were not only the “representors” of all of the imagery of the spiritual life of a culture, but also the concrete documentors of history itself. The principle roles of those who created visual records and images was to consort with the rich and mighty and meet their ego requirements for iconic everlasting life.

Now we do everything with visual images. We recreate the real world in screens, on one dimensional tablets, and render impressionist or abstract pictures of life that mock the regular citizen’s version of a thing.

Artists create an amazing filter of taking the look and dimension of a thing and creating from it, a version of the thing which is imbued with ideas,statements and  the “code” or style of its creator.  Art in our world means capturing and crystallizing one moment in a photo, layering colour and light to create depth and meaning and bringing vibrancy and energy to still things.

At our recent Art Show for BC Persons with Disabilities, we saw the works of many artists whose “filter” was both passionate and biographical. The meaning and the motivation for each of these men and women was to express the world as they saw it.

When we sweep by a park, or see light pulsating on a surface, we can only remember what we saw. The role of the artist is to compel us with a sensory memory that is “fatter”, brighter and remains a record of that which would otherwise be fleeting and forgotten. The passion of the artist and the importance and magnitude of art’s intrinsic value is it’s connection to all that we see and do. At the twilight of our lives we will remember some sparkling moments, but it is the photographic detail of our lives we can refer to as our memories fade. Likewise, our society and that which we value is recorded through the loving and focused eye of our artists.

In truth, the artist is like a refraction of what life offers. He or she is a glass which bends the common and unattractive to a form which is splendid or, in the fashion of Picasso’s Work Guernica, his ugly representations of wanton violence and destruction. Simplified, visceral.

Each painter, photographer and sculptor is part of his or her product.

We should respect and adore our artists. They enable us to time-travel, leave our humdrum perceptions for a moment and open our minds to what moments in the continuum can produce.

Becoming an artist is about developing a dialogue between what you are communicating and what you’re absorbing from your surroundings.
John Ferrie