Art, A passion or an escape?

Art. Something that isn't quite defined and I don't think will ever be. People think that art is defined by those whom have the power to do it so, some people think that it's art because it establishes their ideal of beauty and some people think that art is absolutely everything. For me, Art is when you transcend what you are feeling/thinking of, that the fact that you bother in doing it it's because you need to let something out of you that is trapped and you have no other way to show it but by art! weather it's by a painting, a performance, singing, dancing, making music, what ever, as long as you are letting people know that there is something trapped in you that you need to let out.

I know that when someone creates art, it's because they want to transcend something valuable from them, a piece of them, it's not just anything, it's an "emotional intelligence" if that applies. We guide ourselves by emotion all the time, reason can be pretty square but, I strongly believe that reason is part of our emotions, our emotion to believe in something exact, our emotion of curiosity of how things work, our emotion to dig deeper rather than just the surface of life.

But sometimes I wonder about the artists, do they do art because the are passionate of what they feel and think or do they do art to distract themselves from something in life? What ever the case may be, what ever the portal of inspiration may be, amazing things are created every day and in every hour, we are all artists, no one has to tell us if we are a true artist. Even the dumb bitches or ass holes create art in their own way and with their own ideals. For me, a dumb way of art is shopping all the time, I don't find any satisfaction in that, I mean, I love shopping, I really do, and I love dressing up with things that no one else would posses, but maybe these girls love shopping so much that it is like art to them because they get to wear what ever they want according to their idea of beauty, according to their personality and according to how they are feeling in that precise moment of their life. And what about those people that kill and transform the person before or after, I know it may sound horrible and brutal and what not but, they too have their own ideals of beauty and also their way to send out a message to be heard rather than being suppressed.

We are surrounded by art but people think it's so little because it will always be according to their ideals, if they aren't within their ideals they will immediately reject it and deny that it is art.

Speaking of paintings, I'd like to say that it is one of the most interesting forms of art because of the use of colors, shapes and strokes. I think it's the clearest image that we can get to see the persons or even animals, world. Say, the schizophrenics; some drawing that I have seen of schizophrenics are the most interesting for me because they live in worlds, literally, and we don't even know for certain why they do, yeah, we have science to tell us but they still don't go beyond the surface, there is always something deeper that not even science, math or equations can get to, like π. Point is, we have no idea what schizophrenics see and the fact that when ever they draw something or paint or anything of which we can understand in some form what they are seeing or feeling is amazing, they have opened up a small portal to their world, to understand them even if just in a small piece of paper, they are giving us a small passage to their world, a world that is a gigantic mystery to us, to see other things in this material world that we live in is crucial, hard to even understand.

Louis Wain was a famous schizophrenic artist who always painted cats. They say that before he developed schizophrenia, he had a hard time distinguishing between fact and fantasy, people also frequently found him incomprehensible, due to his way of speaking tangentially. It's said that what had trigged his schizophrenia was because of his constant contact with his cat, of which his cat had transmitted him toxoplasmosis.

Although his paintings started with just drawings of cat's, they eventually turned into cat-patterns, large eyes and dramatic expressions, seeming like if the cat was always surprised, scared or even just showing the expression of a questioning.

I find his work very interesting. They're intense and keep on a certain geometry and symmetrical ways in his backgrounds and sometimes vise versa, the cat very symmetrical, and the background how ever it would be.

I don't know if this has ever happened to someone but when I'm doing something in watercolors, sometimes I can't get the right color or just the color I need, sometimes I imagine colors that don't even exist physically and it is horrible because then, I can't show exactly what I am feeling, and I feel so impotent and just leave my painting halfway to what I am trying to show and so I have to conform with what I have at reach and that's it, send it out like that, but I do my best to show how I feel or what I am thinking.

This is an abstract painting I made in 2009. Technique is water color.

My conclusion is this: I think art start's as a way to distract ourselves, an escape from something that we don't desire to confront but by confronting it in a form of art we then evolve it into passion. That's me, my thoughts, anyone can think what ever they want. This is just my opinion and I am opened to those who have a different idea. Actually, I would be very pleased if you could leave a comment, letting me know what you think, so that I can broaden my gaze on different opinions, it would be very helpful for me.

As always, thank you for reading.