MAKING ART AN ESSENTIAL PART OF LIFE
Ever since I was an art student, I had a burning question in the back of my mind: What does all this have to do with the real world?

There's something so useless about studying art and culture. Sure, now I can explain a post-expressionist piece to vacant eyes and a disinterested mind, but what's the point? What makes a drawing, or a book, or a movie socially important and culturally revolutionary? What's the point of all this over abundant creating. Today with the internet, the post-modernist's nightmare has come true: There's no thrill of the original, there are too many artists and themes to see movements forming.

These questions come back to haunt me- big time- as I become a young professional, and I realize that all that I hold dear, all I'm passionate about, all I work for IS culture and art.

I have a blog that specializes in pinup art (of all the meaningless, shallow niches, I had to pick the most offensive, as well...). When a friend, spontaneously asked me, what's there to write about pinup art? I went blank (I post 3 times a week!). I was sure, when I started, no one would ever read my articles. Fast forward to 7 months later, and I have about 300 people a day, visiting this blog!

Why do people want to read this stuff? I don't get it. I consume culture, but I don't read the culture pages in the paper. Maybe it's just me, but the financial pages of the paper actually give a much better explanation of our wayward culture than the culture pages.

Art and life are on two parallel paths and seldom do they meet. Art is a consumers commodity, or transient entertainment (on the web) only to be replaced by the next pretty attraction. People are less preoccupied with art and its meanings when there's a war on, or an election. (On a side note: It's interesting that governments don't really utilize artists so much, in their propaganda.)

It's true, certain art forms do manage to reach the masses. I consider a Marilyn Manson concert a full-length installation, and music videos are video art. Movies and television programs, these are all art. It's true that a lot of these productions are viewed in financial terms, but some are genuinely meaningful, to the art itself and to cultural revolutions.

As I mentioned before, in these times of abundance, art is everywhere and it's easier than ever to distribute it. Maybe it's this fact that cheapens it and its meaning, or maybe this is just another faze in art history that will only be identified within a couple centuries, with the wisdom of hind sight. As for now, we can only call it post-modernism and understand it with terms such as "estrangement" and "detachment". And yet still, we strive to find its meanings.

A couple of days ago, my art blog was reviewed on one of the blogging networks:

"(the blog) approaches life through art and art becomes an essential part of life."

This sentence really filled me with purpose. I do that?! That's amazing! I'm the answer to my own impossible questions. If I can make art an essential part of someone else's life, then that's the answer I was looking for, to begin with.

Learn more about this author, Tali.
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