The practice of art accompanies the artist Alexander Cherkov from his youth. his book "Sculpture, painting, drawing and more" He wrote following many years of teaching sculpting and painting techniques in the workshops he gives and a desire to share with insights that came up in conversations with students about the practice of art itself and why we need it. The following section is the summary of an introductory book to the world of art.
The practice of art and why we need it
That's all for now. In fact, more and more examples of new techniques used in visual art can be brought up, but that's not the point. With experience, you can invent them yourself.
The key is to understand why you need it.
Art is not a profession. An artist doesn't make art to make money, he makes money to make art. This is a paraphrase of a quote from Walt disney who testified himself: "I don't make movies to make money, I make money to make movies." Edgar Degas put it even more sharply: "I am always suspicious of an artist who achieves success before his death." Federico Fellini expressed himself in an interesting way on this subject: "Money is everywhere, but so is poetry. What we lack are poets." In addition to pointing out that money is not the goal in creating art, Fellini further added that the goal of such pursuits is not the artworks themselves. And really, I have to agree that there are already so many books, paintings, sculptures, songs, music, theater and cinema in the world that there won't be enough longevity to devote at least 5 minutes to getting to know all the works of the world.
So why are we doing this?
I can tell you about myself. I think many of my readers are familiar with the feeling that surrounded me as a child. A sense of special personal purpose. The feeling that you are responsible for the fate of the world. You came here for some reason. The feeling that you are committed to saving someone. or something. Such an initial spiritual experience, vague and poorly worded, dissolved over time. Under the constant pressure of having to struggle for existence, she was pushed into the deep subconscious and seemed to disappear altogether. But, I think, it found expression in a more mature period through the formation of a system of spiritual values and the understanding that I must protect myself from self-destruction. And despite the fact that such a system exists, I am constantly violating it under the pressure of doubts and temptations, I still feel the need to return to principles that have been found in the past.
The practice of art and its contribution to humanity
Arts studies, I believe, contribute to the formation of a more sustainable value system, because it helps to include more than rational motives. At least that's the case for me. But the practice of art does not only protect us personally. "When the guns speak, the muses are silent." Such a wording of a well-known expression indicates that the first part of the sentence is the cause, and the second part is the effect. But is it really so? There is no doubt that there is a correlation between them. But is the causal relationship so unequivocal? It seems to me that the phrase "when the muses are silent, the guns speak" to a greater extent expresses the drama of this thought. It puts the responsibility of the world not only on the gun owners, but also on you and me.
In other words, the sound of muses is capable of protecting humanity from self-destruction.
Is such a danger really that real? I'm so scared! Because among the gun owners there are many who explain like, "We, as martyrs, will go to heaven, but they will just die." And more.
Fyodor Dostoevsky said: "The world will be saved by beauty." In fact, he called for strengthening the voice of the muses. I totally agree with the idea of the great artist.
But the question that arises in this case does not leave me: who will save the beauty?
