Creating a Public Art
My students will often hear me say, “A painting is not yet done until you share it with somebody.” As a language—visual as opposed to verbal—art not only represents meaning, but it also bears a capacity to communicate meaning. And, as with any object introduced into the world, a painting has the right to announce, “Here I am. I exist!”
Wondering whether or not a painting can "exist" without an audience to view it should recall for us the thought-experiment of the falling tree. If a tree falls in the woods and no one hears it, does it make a sound? The very same could be asked of a painting or of any work of art. If a painting sits in a corner only to collect dust without a soul to view it, does it exist? As intimidating as it might be, sharing one’s work is the ultimate, most satisfying step in the creative process since doing so serves to validate the work’s very existence. Bearing witness makes things real.
Sharing, however, does more than just make a piece of art real. In the act of reifying, sharing serves to connect the artist and his art with the visitor who observes. Sharing then, is a type of public performance—the sort inherent within any empathic gesture. Public because, while originating in selfhood, sharing necessarily reaches out to other; empathetic because sharing serves as the initial step whereby self and other engage in the mutual process of creating meaning and understanding.
Sharing becomes a way of negotiating the personal I with the larger We of the universe.
Allowing for a public component to one’s art can take many forms, a number of which extend beyond the fundamental concepts inherent to the act of sharing. Even so, public performance of the empathetic gesture is needed now more than ever. Consider for a moment the degraded state in which we find much of our public life—from infrastructure such as roads, bridges, and subways, to human-service systems like education, health, and housing. From the political to the personal realms of our lives, many of our interactions with one another remain lacking in civility and are deprived of even the most rudimentary forms of grace. How well we treat the public sphere will always reflect the value we place on the quality of our lives together.
The playwright, Anna Deveare Smith, once wrote that creativity is “the bridge that makes unlikely aspects seem connected.” From the colors that constitute a painting to the people that make up a nation, creativity serves as the bridge that unites individual elements into a formal whole.
It’s the existential calling for art to be shared that bestows upon art one of its most important functions, a truly public obligation.
