In the review of “The Opposite of Love” by Julie Buxbaum, the reviewer starts straight off the bat by comparing the heroine of the story, Emily Haxby, to Sex and the City Character Carrie Bradshaw. I presume this is at least partially because the reviewer infers that anyone who sees the title of the book and is still interested in reading the review is a fan of Sex and the City. Further connections are made between the two, excepting the fact that although Emily is frank about sex, she barely ever has it in the book, having stronger morals than those of Carrie Bradshaw. The reviewer takes quite an apathetic bordering on chick lit fan stand on the book, praising its entertainment value and shying away from its absence of real literary substance. The review adds an interesting element to the book, that it is semi-autobiographical to Buxbaum. This is put in there to garner more interest, setting this novel apart from all the fantasy romance fluff that is out there these days.
In Shelley’s “Defense of Poetry,” it is implied quite blatantly that poets are of a higher standing on the echelon of human intelligence. They are able to pick up on subtleties and underlying messages that normal people are not able to see. With his reasoning, it would seem that poetry does not need to be defended, as he claims in the title. He word-drops SAT vocabulary at certain points in the piece, to show off or to demonstrate how much higher status he is, or both. If it were up to him, poets would run the world.
Art, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. What art is to me could seem like child’s fare to another, and vice versa. What I perceive as what art is to others is anything that stirs emotion. Because emotion is caused by a mixture of personality and personal experience, no one will see art in the same things, nor in the same way. Art can take any form where one of the senses will perceive it: audio, visual, taste, smell, and touch. It can also just take the form of an unmistakable but indescribable feeling within the human psyche, without taking any sort of physical form. Art is simultaneously subjective and speaking for itself. It is not meant to be valued or compared to others except when said information is used on a personal level. While I do not attempt to evaluate art on behalf of others, I put my opinions out there for the benefit of art itself.
Take Jackson Pollock, for example. His work is notoriously known for being deceptively simple and amateurish:
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Lavender Mist – Image Credit to Harley Hahn
There are those who react with, “I could’ve made that! And I have two left hands!” (so to speak) Then there are those who react with wonder and awe at Pollock’s genius—like those who encased the Pollock at the SAM in glass. If a person associates with one of those groups, he or she might never be able to understand the other side. This, however, does not mean that one group is more subjective than the other. Perhaps the former group believes they can recreate the works because it reminds them of their own preschool painting techniques;
Image credit: Ooey Gooey
perhaps the latter group enjoys the art because it conjures happy memories, like preschool.
The emotion that goes into both creating and reviewing art is important, if not essential, to the process. What separates a photographer’s shot of the Grand Canyon and one that just happens to be replicated by a tourist driving by (not likely, but possible) is the heart and emotion put into it. Although both people ultimately experienced an emotional moment when they took in the rusty, earthen hues, the art derives from the one that hiked up to a secluded area at the break of dawn and sat around waiting for the perfect light. This artist, who has dedicated his life to portraying what he sees, presents a point of view, a narrative, and a mood all at once. In art, intent is everything.
Experience, however, is nothing. Art, in its basic form, is an expression of thought. And so following the pattern of human nature and of history, art is used as a form of rebellion. Experience, then, would not only be useless through the constant bombardment of new ideas and styles, but it would go a far as hindering the invention and acceptance that a “fresh mindset” would bring. This disregard for the old and embrace of the new has been seen time and time again in visual art, music, film, fashion, architecture, and now even the “art” of businesses. Jazz and impressionism were respectively just as radical as the hip-hop movement and abstract art–all were expressions of progressive ideas taking a physical form. With this reasoning, there is no comparison between this art and that art because art is designed to stand on its own (or in a collection). It doesn’t matter how delicate the brushstrokes on one of Monet’s lilies are, or how intricately the arpeggios of Beethoven’s symphonies intertwine; all things that are considered art is labeled so because it is art to someone, whatever century they may live in. And even regarding art from the same historic movement, it can hardly be expected that all the artists involved ever sat in a room and laid down some ground rules.
“No, Diego, we’re going for a darker tint on the hair, like on mine.”
Image Credit: Hanksville
What does art mean? To me, art is those things that speaks to me, sends a message, and shapes me to become a better person. It tells me to look at the world in a different light, take a different perspective. It is a communication between souls, between creator and audience, to discover truths within oneself. Art is not to be taken lightly for child’s fare, but also not to be judged for myself by another. Who is a judge to tell me whether the latest Cameron Diaz chick flick is not worth seeing or if that photography exhibit on household appliances is a breakthrough in modern art? Similarly, who am I to judge which photograph of the Grand Canyon is superior? There are still yet those times when art doesn’t mean anything at all, but is still able to evoke emotion. Art means everything at once, even when it means nothing. I will just have to see this for myself.