What is Art?

CEBU, Philippines - In “Art in Daily Life,” R. W. Machell describes art as “the effort to rise out of a low level of emotion, or sensation, into that higher state in which the soul can speak through the heart of the creator in his work.” It is an effort necessary to attain an ideal, and one that requires still more effort to maintain it once the ideal is reached. In that sense, effort is in the very nature of art.

“But no effort is needed or in any way useful,” Machell continues, “when the soul is speaking in the heart, for then the work flows of its own accord as the river flows, and the flow is like a song of joy.” Matchell must be referring to innate passion for beauty in all its forms. With such passion, art flows effortless.

Even without full-blown passion, many have had a flash of inspiration to make them experience “the joy of true art,” albeit for a quick, passing moment. It’s like music that plays through their being, often filling them with a loving feeling – for themselves and for all others. Then the more common, superficial arts cease to appeal to them, because they had been touched by art in its purest form. 

The experience of such blissful illumination is usually overwhelming that the person is often left drained and tired afterwards. Others are rendered forlorn, deeply yearning for the moment to return. Perhaps in an effort to break their loneliness, they begin to create manifestations of art, as their way of expressing that which they most long for.

Artists, as we call them, are mostly self-contained people. They are not always able to put to words the meaning of their works. For a feeling can only be effectively communicated on the feeling level, not with words.

And so artists always seem to be a mysterious lot. Not because they are in any way actually different from their fellow humans. But because they have had a glimpse of the greatest mystery of all – the pure beauty that suffuses all of life, with all its joys and sufferings.

Thus, the standard that we consider to be art is, for the most part, simply an effort to communicate that which cannot be fully expressed. A painting is only an attempt to capture a dream. Music whispers only part of the longings of the soul in silence.