The Artistic Impulse
"Everyone wants to understand art. Why not try to understand the song of a bird? Why does one love the night, flowers, everything around one without trying to understand them? But in the case of painting, people have to understand." –Pablo PicassoIs there a human impulse to create art? Maybe a better question would be is there a human impulse to create? Is there a difference in creating art and other things? Take a few minutes to watch this entertaining video below. To watch the videos- right click on the video and go to the "Open in a new Tab" option. This should either take you directly to the video, or to a link of to the video.
Examine many of the issues discussed in this film. Start defining in your own mind why people make art.
From the early mists of time to the twenty-first century mankind has created a lot of objects that we consider to be art. Art has now gone beyond object making to a more complex kind of art. But how important is art making? What would happen if suddenly everything that was “art” or related to art disappeared? What would be left? Would we have language? Would we have buildings, tools and clothing? Certainly man’s impulse to create has impacted our society. No society that we know of has lived without some form of art. The impulse to make and respond to art appears to be as deeply ingrained as the ability to learn language.Is Art an Necessity ?
How many things in your life today are visually oriented? A while ago when you logged in to use this website, there were pictures or graphics that you used to navigate. In the early days of the internet before GUI (Graphical User Interface) the internet was only words, no symbols or graphics. What else do you use in your day to day life involves visual symbols or graphics? As you look around and examine your life it is clear that our impulse to create objects has changed the world that we live in and that yes indeed art is a big part of who we are as humankind.
Cave Art
So, how did it all begin? Here we are back in the early mists of prehistoric time… It is the dawn of time. Four cavemen are sitting around a fire eating bear haunch. Fred, the caveman on the right suggests that they develop a focus group to discuss the upcoming cave art happening at the hall of Bison… Bill, the caveman on the left complains that now is a premature moment for this discussion because the bear clan has not decided exactly what paintings should be included in this cave.
I hope that you agree with me that is not a very plausible explanation for some of our earliest forms of art making known as cave art. Here, I hope is a more believable explanation of how man began to create art.
Four cavemen are sitting around a fire eating bear haunch. Fred, gets a particularly greasy bit of bear butt caught in his teeth and reaches over and picks up a piece of wood to pick his teeth and try to dislodge the meat. Unfortunate for Fred, the piece of wood is sitting in kind of a low spot and is wet and sticky with mud.
Fred picks his teeth and ends up with a mouth full of bear grease and mud, so he moves to the side of the fire and spits it all out. In the morning when Fred wakes he discovers a kind of hand print where he spit the colored dirt. The colored dirt is really the first paint. The soil is the pigment or color and the greasy bear binds it together with Fred’s spit and the surface of the first art. According to anthropologists these early prehistoric painters used animal fats mixed with pigments and painted with brushes made of reeds, blowing through the reeds around shapes which included their hands.
Visit the Lascaux Caves
Cave or rock art consists of engraved or painted works on open air rocks or on the floors, walls and ceilings of caves. Radiocarbon testing indicates that the earliest images made by humans date back to the Paleolithic Period. They were created during the Upper Paleolithic period (40,000 to 10,000 BC). The first cave art was only discovered in the 1860s. Cave art portrays human hands; large numbers of animals in different activities, including various species, such as the woolly rhinoceros, which are now extinct, geometric figures and signs. Humans are also portrayed but these instances are rare.Next we come to methods and materials. The earliest and most rudimentary images are finger drawings in soft clay on the rock surface, the artist following the example of claw marks made by animals. Stone Age peoples did not live in caves, except occasionally in cave mouths or natural rock shelters. All the major sites which we know of were special places, not human habitations.
The most likely reason why these societies devoted so much attention and resources to cave art, over a very long period of time, is that they found satisfaction in it. It gave them entertainment, fun, excitement, sensual and spiritual relief, and added to their knowledge. It is probable that the impulse to create art comes from basic human interests in creating order and structure, as well as constructing images and forms which carry meaning all while the creator explores aesthetic possibilities.
The Created Environment
The artist's world is limitless. It can be found anywhere, far from where he lives or a few feet away. It is always on his doorstep. ~Paul StrandEarly Man's Environment
The next big step in our early art history jumps ahead to around 3100 BC in a period of time known as the Bronze Age. A number of Megaliths are built in one part of the world. A megalith is a large stone which has been used to construct a structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones without the use of concrete. Stonehenge is the most important megalith of this period.
What are the theories behind Stonehenge? There have been a number of wild ideas related to Stonehenge. The question that dominates the debate as to what Stonehenge was used for can be easily divided into whether it was a religious site or a scientific observatory.
There are 165 key spots within Stonehenge that relate to the sun and the moon. The most accepted explanation is that the site was created to help commemorate the solstices, as the alignment with the sun and moon would seem to indicate.
Much of the support for a religious use has developed from a purely opinionated standpoint. Today religious groups have moved to claim it as their own. It has long been regarded as created by the Celts. Modern Celts now hold festivals and ceremonies at different times during the year.
Brancusi's Studio
What we have been examining is man’s artistic impulse. Throughout time man has controlled his environment as part of the artistic impulse. How strong is this impulse? Do you have artistic urges?
Imagine… you are free to do what ever you want. You woke up this morning and now can twitch your nose like Samantha of Bewitched and can surround yourself with what ever you want. What would you have in your environment?
Most artists create an environment that is meaningful to them. A number of my artists’ friends and family have gone as far as completely controlling their environment, designing their homes, landscaping and studio. Why do you suppose that this is so important to an artist? What are some reasons why artists use their studios as subject matter?
Like most people an artists’ environment is very important to them and can hinder or enhance their creativity. Brancusi’s sculptures in his studio can tell us a lot about his work. Brancusi spent his life creating forms that were simple, pure and timeless. His most famous sculpture, Bird in Space, though abstract speaks to us all as soon as we recognize how he is communicating about the bird. Click the link and take a look. http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/486757
What did you learn from representations of Brancusi’s studio? Compare this if you will with these images from Jackson Pollock’s’ Studio. What do you suppose that the creator of the Spiderman comic book art, Steve Ditko would have in his studio?
To sum up, from the beginning of civilization man has been driven to create art of some form in his environment. It is an important, basic aspect as who we are as humankind. Art is not just for the gifted few but is a basic instinct for all of us to enjoy and express ourselves visually in some manner. It might be true that you may not feel as driven creatively to express yourself in the same way that an artist will. The impulse to create is not for only a special few. It is perhaps a basic part of human nature.
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