Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Can Art Change Your Life?

While attending an entrepreneur event this morning, the presenter made a statement that stuck with me.  He said that the endpoint of what we are endeavoring to do must be to really change the lives of people.  He followed that with this...that if you are not really changing people's lives, they don't really care.

                                "In the Mountains"
                                  Albert Bierstadt

 So....that lead me to wonder...how does making art change people's lives?  Does it really matter?  Or could they just as easily live without it. It doesn't supply tangible needs like food, clothing, shelter, healthcare, or transportation.  

I can see the entertainment value of performing arts.  And the literary value of words in a book has the power to entertain or inform, but how does or how can the visual arts play an active role in changing people's lives?  Are the visual arts a quiet, static optional function in life?  Or....does viewing a work of art intrinsically change something in a person's life for the better?  This is what I am wrestling with.  Has viewing a work of art ever had a life-changing impact for you?

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