On a recent thread, an orger asked me what the music I listen to "does for me." It got me to thinking about the function of art in our lives.

What does the music you listen to do for you? What does the visual art you see or the literature you read do for you? What, do you think, is the function of art in our lives?

i think it connects people. when it's at its best, it's reflecting the human experience and letting us know that the things we see and feel are common experiences. it gives us something we can relate to.

OR

it can expand the imagination. art can take very familiar concepts and distort them in interesting ways that make us thing about things differently.

OR

it can just be something pretty to meditate on when you need a retreat from chaos.

OR

it can be the chaos you turn to when you need an outlet for a good temper tantrum.

i guess it's a lot of things.

in my case, it's music:

- makes me feel happy
- helps me stay in a shitty mood if i feel like it
- brings back memories
- gives me something to do while i'm doing other, duller things
- keeps me sane (instead of throwing things, i go play an instrument - it works for me, so whatever )
- makes me think
- gives me something to talk about with others
- if i care about nothing else at any given point, there's always music. that can be encouraging.

Life support.

Art is good for covering stains on the wall and music is good for keeping the voices in my head at bay!

I love art. I was always into drawing and painting but until I attended the Art Institue I had never realized how much art should be appreciated. I learned how to paint with acrylics, oils, and water color paints and I found it to be quite complicating at times. I was sent on field trips to the Getty and LA museums and I got to see and experience many types of art such as modern, renaisance, etc. The effort and detail in many pieces painted by the best painters in the world became an inspiration for me to perfect my style. I also took perspective courses learning the importance of how to shade shapes, measure distances in drawings and through massive amounts of practice perfect my presentations. My goal is to continue my schooling when I can afford it and get an Interactive Media Design degree and make a living doing what I love. Art.

Music and Art does for me, what Jami0Mckay's threads can't--thats stimulate me!

music is everything to me.

It's the soundtrack of my life. Play a good Christmas song in mid July, and I can feel the frost on my nose from Christmases of the past. Play some tacky Alanis Morrissette song and I'm transported to a simpler time, soaking wet from sweat and high on something kissing friends and dancing the night away. Play anything by Prince prior to the Symbol Album, and I'm transported back to a time when I could not control my erections and thought that grownups were all 'grown up'.

I almost always have it playing in the background. I can't clean, excercise, paint, or read without it. I need it to drown the world around me out. I need it to focus. I need it to sometimes fully remember.

Nothing is more therapeutic.

In the movie Spartacus with Kirk Douglas there is a great scene. All the slaves have just fought for freedom and are still running for their lives. When the evening comes they gather round and one starts singing about love or so. When he's done and everyone is in silent awe, Kirk says something to the effect of, that culture is something that a society needs in order to function and stick together. Just thought I'd share that...

Music and books serve the highest purpose in my life. They help create me.

Art is my life. Life is my art.

gets me through traffic going to and from work
[Edited 4/3/08 12:56pm]

Lammastide said:

It's a lot like sex.

such a worthy thread with great meaning





is art dead for some?

Lammastide said:

I occasionally watch or listen to something strictly for laughs, or just for the sheer pleasure of singing along with a good tune, but - on the whole - I tend to gravitate towards art that teaches me something about living. For this reason, I'm usually drawn to work by people older than myself.

Mostly, these days, I read, watch and/or listen to work by older people who share my world view and remind me that (as that song goes), "It's only life, after all" and help me to laugh at the madness of it all.

Nice thread, my fellow Torontonian.

Anxiety said:

What he said.

PEJ said:

And I thought you were just a pimp!

IveRepliedLikeAnMFerToday said:

pimpin days are done and over with!

PEJ said: