Art – Just as Necessary as the Air We Breathe
by Stephen Lebovits
According to the Louvre, it took Leonardo Da Vinci 16 years (from 1503 – 1519) to finish the Mona Lisa. One rumor has it that it took him 12 years just to paint her lips!
With this understanding of the time it takes to create, Effusion is relaunching our blog, hoping you will appreciate what we have to offer as the world appreciates Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa smile!
Since 2021, we’ve been quite active, not only in searching out, finding, inviting, and displaying some of Canada’s best and brightest artists across various mediums, but Effusion has also contributed socially to events and causes we believe in—because art permeates life; it’s everywhere if you take notice.
Despite the millennia that art, in some form or another, has existed, the question of what art is and what is art continues to be asked. According to philosopher Richard Wollheim, art is “one of the most elusive of the traditional problems of human culture.”
Hmm… so is art a problem?
Aristotle suggested that “the aim of art is to represent not the outward appearances of things, but their inward significance.”
So, art evokes feelings, then, right?
Tolstoy echoed Aristotle when he wrote: “To evoke in oneself a feeling one has experienced, and then, by means of movements, lines, colors, sounds, or forms expressed in words, so to transmit that feeling—this is the activity of art.”
So, art is a method of visceral communication then?
But these are all individuals who are outside looking in. What of those within, doing the creating?
Pablo Picasso thought, “art is the lie that makes us realize the truth, at least the truth that is given us to understand.”
So, is art a metaphor?
German poet Bertolt Brecht wrote that “art is not a mirror held up to reality but a hammer with which to shape it.”
Then art is a tool?
And finally, Leonardo Da Vinci believed that art is “the Queen of all sciences communicating knowledge to all the generations of the world.”
Art as communicative science – very interesting!
Therefore, it seems that art may be nothing or everything. Here at Effusion Art Gallery, we want to have this conversation with you in the hopes of discovering what your thoughts on art are, what kind of art you enjoy, and how we can help fit more art into your life.
Art, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder, so come behold some of the art we have on display for you.
Carpe diem, just because.