The Permanence of Art in an Impermanent World

Virtual Reality has some kinks to be worked out, while Twitter, Facebook, Digital Art and Flash Mobs are here now.  They quickly pique our interest, but are gone as quickly, replaced by the next post, video or event.  Our world has become a fast moving assault of images, opinions and ideas.  We react quickly, often with extreme passion, only to move on to the next event or visual crisis within minutes or even seconds.

 

This is completely new and alien to the human condition.  Is this good for us?  Time will have to decide.  But what it does do, is help us appreciate the few permanent things in our life.  We take vacations at a tropical beach precisely because it is difficult to be reached by phone or Internet.  We want time to not only decompress, but allow our minds to rest from the barrage of images.

Art Can be That Permanence We so Desperately Seek

When you collect a beloved work of art and hang it on your wall (or visit a work at a museum), there is a relationship that occurs.  It is deeply personal.  You don’t need to explain it unless you want to.  You can simply be with your experience.  It is rare and extraordinarily human.

Mankind has Created Art for Thousands of Years

Human beings have created art far longer than recorded history.  We have some beautiful examples preserved in caves in France and Spain dating back as far as 40,000 years.  It is likely it goes back even further, just that the art hasn’t survived.  We know why in the deepest essence of our beings.  Art is the language of conceptualization.  A single look and we take in a whole world of ideas that crosses the boundaries of time and space.  Twenty-first Century man, with all his electronic gadgets, can absolutely connect with his non-technical or “primitive” counterpart 40,000 years ago.  All he has to do is look.

We are Hungry for Something to Linger Over

Modern society in its weird and anti-human way discourages this experience.  We are expected to move on from image to image like hyperactive children, while deep in our psyche we crave the peaceful interaction of a single object to linger over.  The solution is to find a work of art you love, pull up a chair and contemplate infinity in its depth.  Think of it as a vacation for the spirit.

Ingrid Dee Magidson\’s Exhibition in Vail, Colorado opened December 29, 2016.