This is a term I’ve heard often, as one of the goals of art, without really understanding it. I think I’ve figured out at least some of it now. Stay with me.
I think I was 22 or so when my daughter, Carolyn, became seriously ill (and thank you Dr. Edlavitch!). My wife and I were terrified. I remember sitting in the waiting room, as frightened as I had ever been. I put my hand up the back of my wife’s shirt, and she glared at me, and told me this wasn’t the time to get sexual.
Of course, I wasn’t getting sexual; I was scared and needed human contact, especially hers.
But here’s the thing: I couldn’t say it. I couldn’t find the words to tell her that. Looking back now, it seems so silly, the words were easy. “It’s not about sex. I’m scared and I need touch.” She’d have understood that. But at the time, the words just weren’t anywhere to be found.
How did I come to find them later, so that I could look back, remember the incident, and express what I was then feeling? Because I read a lot. Because, over the years, I had come across these feelings that brilliant writers had been able to find the words for. I think the more we read, and especially the more we read good stuff, the more we are able to draw on those shared experiences that artists have found ways to express.
That is one thing that good art can do: it can give us insights to complex emotions and help us find ways to express them. I think that is one of the highest goals of art.
(Originally posted on my patreon)
skzb–
Your art has played a part in shaping the way I think, write, and speak ever since I started reading your stuff while in high school. You know what they day about influences on a developing brain.
I had a similar experience when my then 9 month old son stopped breathing while under my care. A neighbor who is a registered nurse was giving him cpr, he was as white as a sheet. They were on the line with the dispatcher. I just got up and walked out, ostensibly to check on my other son, but in truth I just wanted to get away from seeing that. So freezing up during that moment, I understand exactly the feeling you are grappling with.
My son was taken to the ER, and he ended up being 100% okay. I realized he was back to himself when I could see how pissed he was to have tubes stuck to him, and where is my favorite blanket and bottle? Even then, his expressions were very eloquent.
This incident occurred when I was 47. Not sure I would have had the emotional depth or words to express or explain the experience, had it presented itself to me at 22.
Kragar: Yes, exactly that.
My personal definition of “Art” is when it is emotional. If you see a painting, sculpture, watch a movie or read a book, it is only “art” if you experience an emotion as part of the experience. The better the art, the more different and diverse people from different backgrounds can have that shared emotional experience, even if the emotions are not the same.
An artist is someone with the courage and skill to share emotion with clarity, regardless of chosen medium, enough that another can experience an emotion of their own as a result.
If there is no emotion attached to the experience then for you it is not “Art”. Just my $0.02
reminds me of the quote…
“Touch is the most fundamental sense. A baby experiences it, all over, before he is born and long before he learns to use sight, hearing, or taste, and no human ever ceases to need it. Keep your children short on pocket money but long on hugs.”
— Robert A. Heinlein