I believe that art takes shape in response to the realities in which it exists. Art is a mirror held up to society. It is a canary in the coal mine. To read the story that is being told by art is to catch a glimpse of what is going on beneath the surface of the culture.
As most of us know from first hand experience either making or consciously seeking out art, it is not simply a passive symptom of what is going on “out there”. Art is an active force that influences the waters from which it has emerged.
The push and pull between nature versus nurture will never cease, but no matter how controlling the society or how powerful the aesthetic edicts within which artists were working, there was always the magic of humans exploring their curiosity in ways not quite understood even by them.
I think it is helpful to consider art in the same way we describe the immune system. Artists are often creating as a means of addressing the deep seated needs and desires which they otherwise struggle to express. Art appears in the form of what we think we need in that moment, in that era. To look at art from the broad scope of generational change within a changing society is to see clues about what the artists were seeking.
Renaissance artists were seeking mathematical perfection and organization within their linear perspective. They were seeking knowledge about the workings of light and the eye, and therefore ways to better place the human within a world that was suddenly framed not by religious belief, but by scientific assessments.
The German Romantics were seeking deep emotional connections to a shared past that had never truly existed. They were feeling swept away by tides raging on all fronts not of their own making, and they were perhaps looking to tap into a root of emotional power that had been blindsided by the ever advancing powers of steam and steel to shape the industrializing world.
To look back at the trajectory of art within the twentieth century within America and much of Europe is to see a retreat from common grounds of aesthetics. It is to see lines dissolving ever more rapidly which had once separated what was acceptable or reasonable or even meaningful. As the branches of scientific knowledge began multiplying ad-infinitum, and psychological studies opened up vast landscapes within the individual, we see extreme amounts of separation of one person from another. Artistic movements, though extremely problematic to characterize, had once been built upon some senses of shared aesthetics and grounding values. Suddenly, art became about slipping, and then breaking, those boundaries.
One may call it exploration, even liberation, from what had come before and the stifling rigidity of academic schools. Another take, considering art as symptom of underlaying ailments, is that art has retreated to a place from which it can help us come to terms at the most fundamental level.
Instead of building common ground as a society, or even as a close knit group of like-minded individuals, art now serves the unique voice of one person at a time. It is often a pure expression of one person’s experience of being human, and often their struggle with it.
What does it say about our world and our society, that the art we make seems mostly about trying to come to terms with ourselves as individuals?
The Tide of Disconnection
Simone Weil, a philosopher and activist writing about the changes taking place in her home France during the Nazi occupation and the ongoing impacts of industrial revolution, wrote a deeply important book outlining a need for deep connection.
She talked about what she called “rootedness” as a fundamental human need. The need for us as a species to be connected to something outside of ourselves in the world, as well as to each other. This sense of connection is something I would place within the camp of aesthetics in the Kantian sense, a non-rational bodily connection that hits us at a level below language and reason. It is a sense that we stand in important relationship to something else. This relationship gives us a sense of grounding and perspective on our lives and our place within the larger world.
So much that characterizes the modern era has to do with how we have lost (or torn out) these roots. Technology and social changes have made it difficult for people living in modernized societies to have any sense of innate connection with their world.
I have been following the writing of another person who describes poignently the advancement of the “machine” and its effects upon us. His writings have done an excellent job putting my own thoughts into words so that I can better frame and discuss them.
While quickly searching for a simple link back to some of Simone Weil’s writing to include in this post, I found a wonderful piece of writing about her work that summarizes her ideas. I did not recognize the name of the author of this article, but was unsurprised to find that it was the same man, Paul Kingsnorth, whose work I had been following.
The article is an excellent short read that I highly recommend: “The Great Unsettling: Simon Weil and the Need for Roots” by Paul Kingsnorth.
It seems some connections are just waiting to come to light.
This is all to highlight how unbalanced our society is in favor of disconnection. Specifically, the currents of the modern world are most impactful in their ability to tear us away from the traditional cultural roots, and roots of place, that once brought us a sense of meaning.
To take this understanding of our modern world as full of tidal forces working to unmoor us from one another, and from the natural world, I believe we must consciously consider the role of art as a connective force. One with a unique ability to navigate outside of the corporate sphere, and one which links strongly to cultural sensibilities which are desperately needed.
To accept that art can be a vitally important vehicle for reestablishing connections is to beg the question about what art “should” be doing with this power.
My own conscience has been pulling me towards a moral code for artists and critics which orients these works within a framework of integrity. This integrity which I have been exploring is the spectrum of connection, and the honesty and clarity with which it is pursued.
For artists this is a call to consider what role the work has in the world once it is released. Does it speak with a voice that has the power to build or inspire connections? Between whom and what? Is it created with a reference for others to grasp hold of? Does it continue conversations of other traditions and media that viewers will be able to link back to? Is it hopeful, or encouraging or enlightening?
No artist should feel themselves compelled to change their vision, but it is worth asking against such as backdrop: is there a place for art whose intention is separation, disintegration or nullification? If it is, then does it at least offer a sense of hope with the other hand? Can we handle the weight of yet another disruptive force?
The onus on critics is perhaps even greater. An artist may need to create something darkly powerful in order to tap into a necessary inner well of strength and healing. Some works will be in their power challenging as well as hopeful. Much of the influence of art is in the balance of destruction and creation, and the destabilizing of what we think we know.
A critic has the responsibility to frame these works and help to translate them to the public. A critic can increase the impact which a work of art can deliver to the world. It is a great burden that cannot be lightly carried.
I challenge critics to help us interpret art with an eye towards connection. If the integrity of the world comes from a sense of clarity, then the critic can be the key to open up worlds of meaning and possibility. To do so with a focus on how the work can be a positive force for reconnection and the building of roots, is a noble calling of our time.
The faster and further our world rushes out from under our feet, the more important it will be to find ways to remain rooted. As we become tossed in a world of AI generated images, and corporate-sponsored content, it will become ever more critical to stop and think about where we find meaning.
Let us err on the side of connection.
While navigating what to say about the post-post-modern world, many names have been floated. One of them is “new sincerity”. It does not feel like that has caught on in a meaningful way, but I believe it connects most strongly with what we need right now.
Connections that are fresh, born out of vulnerability and the willingness to bear our desire for connection with clarity. With sincerity. With integrity.
Wandering Path Arts 