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Human beings remain the same even
to this date. We build expensive spaceships and destructive nuclear
weapons while people still starve to death. Large sums of money
go towards space exploration while that same amount of money
could be put towards feeding the starving world population. Likewise,
the money that goes to the development of nuclear weapons could
be used more effectively to help stabilize economic conditions.
Human beings are still living and
thinking too much only about their own personal gains. The consequence
is mostly suffering. People strive to increase their material
possessions, or to achieve fame, believing that this will bring
them happiness. Of course, material wealth partially contributes
to physical convenience and comfort. However, this does not guarantee
the well being and development of one's mind if we do not understand
the full process and conditions under which we attained our wealth.
While we concentrate and compete to gain greater material wealth,
we ignore the negative consequences it causes to society. It
is a misperception to aim towards a successful, "good"
life if it is judged solely on the value of a "respectful"
person who has material wealth and nothing else. One should also
focus on the process of obtaining the wealth.
Likewise, contemporary art these days
perceives art objects as monetarily valuable with reference to
historical significance and fame of the artist. The process in
making and creating the art, its ultimate value, has been mostly
ignored.
My relationship with art has been
developing over a period of twenty years. I was interested in
drawing and making visual images ever since I was a young boy.
I went to art school and have been making "art" all
my life. Now l am also teaching art in art school. Still there
are issues and questions about art that have always remained
inside me. Even until now, I could not find a satisfactory explanation
or clear understanding to these questions: the same old questions
like "what is art ?", "what is the most crucial
part of creativity? " and "what is the ultimate [pure]
value of art?"
I have increased my experience and
knowledge of art by seeing and studying the history of important
art and artists from the historical period to contemporary art.
The knowledge I received from my studies is that these works
are informed by historical and social significance, which is
then reflected in the completeness of the object itself. The
art is strongly united with the thinking process and the intention
of the artists. Moreover, the artists work with the experience
accumulated from continuously increasing skill through working.
The consequence is the visual representation that clearly reflects
the thinking process. Hence the work's uniqueness. More important
is the introduction of new knowledge, a new way of thinking which
has been communicating back and forth within the society. Thus,
art works that have been regarded as valuable historical objects,
justified by written documents and installed in museum's collections,
I would like to call this work, in my own term, the "well-done
creation".
I believe that everybody has probably
heard that child art is the pure art form, reflecting the pure
mind, and representing freely without any bondage or restrictions
of theory, rules, and regulations. We can witness the similarity
in children's works from all over the world. The same thing can
also be witnessed in works by mental illness patients, through
the art therapy process. This is because all of these works reflect
the direct natural experience without strong cultural influences,
that is, they have been "uncooked" by culture. I would
like to call these works "the raw creation".
From my teaching experience, I keep
myself investigating the questions about art mentioned before.
In my exchange with students' perceptions and ideas as well as
observing their working process, some issues were raised. Why
does some work impress me so much and make me feel so good every
time I think about it? These works haven't necessarily been created
based upon art historical knowledge or been executed with highly
developed skills; sometimes not even with the uniqueness like
the "well-done" type nor the innocence of the "raw type". Nevertheless,
it gives me energy and much happiness to experience and see the
freedom of expression, the pure love towards other human beings,
the freedom to dream, to be imaginative and released from all
restrictions. This work instills in me a sense of faith and belief
in the process of understanding the value of life through art.
I would like to call these works by students "the medium
rare creation"
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