Art Life : Celebrating the Possible
Friday, May 23, 2008 written by Delvin Solkinson
art : "Alpha Centauri" by Luke Brown : spectraleyes.com
Art is a way for the soul to communicate. Unfettered by the biases of words and free from the constraints of conventional communication, art is the ancient language that roots all human cultures together. Arising from the pure spirit of the creative imagination, art flows forward as an agent of evolution and a visionary seed for the transmission of inner experience. Art is not the root source of spiritual experience and religious dogma, it is a human reflection of this root source and perhaps the closest we can come to the external experience of the divine within.
Through art people can find beauty, joy, transformation and personal growth. Art can help people to evolve, heal the human heart and lead people through times both challenging and inspired. Truly art is amongst the deepest of human medicines capable of bringing life to people from all ages, cultures, backgrounds and languages groups, it is one of the universal languages of the human family.
Throughout time the artist has had a special place in culture, a keeper of the sacred and transmitter of its reflections to people without the same ability to bridge the visionary imagination with artistic mediums. In ancient days the artist was also a doctor and bard, respected by all as a channel deep into the spirit of the culture. In modern life the artist archetype has been pushed to the edges of society and often forced to live humbly without the support and recognition given to other professions.
As the western industrialized culture begins to collapse in the face of a social, environmental and political crisis caused by its over-consumption and unequal distribution of wealth, human culture is grasping for images of the sacred, images of harmony and love, of creative expression and reconnection with our dying world. From the perennial lineage of religious and spiritual art, up through the fantastic art of the last century emerges many new genres depicting divine visitations, visionary experiences, blessed realms and paradisical worlds. These images are saturating the collective imagination of human culture and serving as a potent reflection in the face of our world of pollution, urbanization and crisis ecology. Bringing us all towards a more creative, more artistic and more life honoring cultural expression, these new art movements represent the re-emergence of the artist as visionary.
If you are interested in supporting a truly splendored future culture, look where the resonant art and artists are. If the art speaks to you of a world in which you would like to live, then support the artist and community from which they come. Whether it be by generating art of great beauty, or supporting those who do, we can all play a role in bringing the spirit of art back into a treasured and influential place in our world.
Re:Sources
Manifesto of Visionary Art - Laurence Caruana
Dreamscape - Claus Brusen
Metamorphosis - Jon Beinart