Art
Art and the understanding of art
Art is a broad topic. If we are to trust Oxford Languages it is “the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power”, but what does this mean? Producing things to be appreciated. Can we appreciate things we don’t understand? Sure. I would say so, you can understand a computer wihtout knowing any of it’s innerworkings, but it feels… shallow, in a way I feel you can love something only when you can understand how it works and can take every single little aspect of it and talk about it individually. Maybe that is why I cannot draw any enjoyment out of life, but oh well.
Is all art meant to be understood? I don’t think so. I attended a play recently, a couple of days ago on my daily walk, I happened to notice people gathering in the fortress where I live and decided to check it out, play in the open. at first I was confused so I talked to an older lady beside me to try and figure out what exactly I am witnessing so I can… appreciate it. Without any context or understanding I felt like I was watching 3 older women with bags jump around the stairs, it was until then someone said the play is starting. For 20 minuts I was watching a pre-play. I couldn’t appreciate the art of it in the moment, the “accidentality” of it, the unseriousness of people just walking by their play. I felt like I was robbed of the experience by my own hubris.
Most confusing part starts now, when the play started, it was in greek. I do not really speak greek apart from the word “malaka” which I was taught in malice, I think it’s often rather dishonest and now cliche already for people to tell you “haha, this is how you swear at someone!” it feels in a way childish, and makes me sad, there are words that deserve more spotlight. Went off-topic for a moment. I watched a play in greek for 2 hours. And in the middle of it there was some pop music with old ladies dancing in provocative dresses. I do not understand any of it.
So I come to the concluding point of this article. Am I stupid to ask for more art and culture if I cannot comprehend it, or if I cannot understand art am I just pretentious? This is really a difficult question, one I cannot answer, I want to understand, yet I just feel lost, I watched them dance and speak and cry and ponder yet I do not understand any of it, maybe there is beauty in that, just like the feeling of being lost in an unknown location or being new in the city. Maybe that is how they felt. I want to understand. I just don’t know how.