What is art?
It is a question that many people have asked.
I really did not have an answer until several years ago.
My friend Ken Ross has a son who was completing his master’s
degree in Fine Art at Cal State Fullerton.
His son had to do a final art project to get his degree.
My wife Lucia and I went to Cal State Fullerton to attend an art
exhibit that featured the work of all their art students.
The art that Ken’s son exhibited consisted of a
bunch of Number 2 pencils stuck into acoustic ceiling tiles that were
mounted in a canopy sitting above an easy chair.
In front of the easy chair was a small black & white television.
Behind the chair was the camera.
Sitting in the easy chair, you could watch yourself observe the
Number 2 pencils stuck in the ceiling tiles.
Lucia questioned whether this was really art.
The image of what I experienced stuck with me for
several days and then a great revelation came to me.
Of course it was art.
If it sticks in our memory, then it must be art.
Think of the Mona Lisa.
The image of the Mona Lisa is indelibly etched in everyone brain
matter as is all the great works of art.
Ken’s son worked his way through college by making
and selling beautiful glass works.
Lucia would probably say they were works of art.
But I have seen the glass works many times, yet none of them are
nearly as memorable as that bunch of Number 2 pencils stuck in the
acoustic tiles that were mounted in a canopy sitting above an easy
chair.
That realization allowed me to more fully
appreciate other forms of art.
I remember taking my daughter Kimberly to the Los Angeles Museum
of Art (LACMA) to meet a school requirement.
We spent the day looking at all the classic works of art
including paintings, sculptures, and even furniture.
But the most memorable part of our visit was the special LACMA
exhibit featuring the florescent light sculptures of Dan Levin.
Levin constructed light sculptures that used colored florescent
lights. They were nothing
curly or odd shaped; just the long straight florescent light tubes that
are used in offices and schools throughout the world.
But they were colored lights.
The light from the sculptures gave a warm comforting glow.
I may not remember all the sculptures but I still remember that
warm comforting glow. Was
it art? Absolutely!