It’s a strange world we live in – an estranged conglomerate of philosophic theories, dimensions, and universal magic. Have you ever looked at the world closely enough? In our daily lives, full of chaos and commitments, we often forget to appreciate the small things in life like the sound of wind howling between the trees on a silent winter evening, or how beautiful the shadow of a canopy looks on a fine summer afternoon. To your surprise, artists, however, notice every minute detail of this bizarre world we live in. Let’s travel the world through the lens of an artist, just to see what we’ve been missing out in life at the expense of our daily hustle-bustle.
A Painter: The world to a painter is just one painting away. A painter can make you see the world and beyond just through the charisma of their canvases. You’d be intrigued to know that painters do not see objects as we do, rather they focus on lines, shadows, shapes, and contours to look at the deeper meaning that those objects portray, invisible to the naked eye. For instance, when we look at a tree, we only witness the archetypal side of the tree, however, a painter notices the fine dynamics of its curves, hues, and contour on an emotional level. The hues of autumn might seem natural to you, but they are magical for an artist. Psychology says that painters have a unique vision that translates into eye scan patterns, which are alien to a non-artist. A painter turns an image into a concept, and then that concept into an emotion which the canvas expresses through three-dimensional backgrounds. No one can profoundly understand the true meaning and essence of artwork, except the artist himself. The range of pain, emotion, and satire felt by the artist while creating artwork is not only subjective but also quite intimate & personal.
A Poet: The world to a poet is a figurative image, full of metaphors and unfamiliar obscurity. A poem is never really a collection of mere words and phrases. It is a satirical translation of subjective experiences, objective epiphanies, unspoken narratives, and sometimes cherished lies. The amalgamation of pain and pleasure demonstrated through the subtleness of verses runs a lot deeper than we think. At times, the world is an aesthetic hallucination of existence that is comprehended through an abstract language, unknown to most. Being poetic often comes at the cost of partial exclusion from realism, into a dimension of indivisible pain, cruelty, and suffering.
A Musician: Neuroscience claims that a musician or an instrumentalist not only hears the world in tunes but also sees it in tunes. Their brain creates a seamless vision of the external stimuli received from the environment and combines it in chords. Remarkably so, the world for a musician is a never-ending melody, playing the rhythm of corporality.
A Photographer: Photographers carry the essence of their world in the depth of their cameras, which store their memories as an artist- the innocence of a child feeding a dog, the hues of the sky cinematically aligned between snow-capped mountains, or the vastness of infinity captured in an ocean. It’s all about capturing immeasurable emotions, moments, and glimpses in immortal pictures.
A Dancer: Dancers perceive the world as a musical sonnet to dance away the vulnerabilities of the human body. They have a special and individualistic way of interacting with the atomic world with a wondrous language through the proximity and fragility of their bodily gestures. They communicate with the environment through the movements of their body, facial expressions, and character outlook. They use their grace and passion to create art with liberty.
Conclusion: Being an artist today does not come easy. At first, you’re too afraid to put your vulnerability out there for the world to see through it. You hope that the world will feel your art, the same way you do. That your art will make sense to them, and somehow heal them. You give yourself to the world, hoping that the world will give back to your art. Painters, directors, writers, musicians, dancers, poets, photographers, and all artists put themselves in a vulnerable position for the world to acknowledge what they have to offer – their pain and suffering, highs and lows.
Artists make the world a less miserable place, a beautiful place. Their stories, art, and music are their way of embracing the world. Communicate with them, and appreciate their struggle as the world would be a cruel place without their art.