DISTILL LIFE
I had a thought-provoking month in art. After rereading one of my favorite poems, ‘Girl Writing a Letter’ by William Carpenter, in a Tangled Roots Writing workshop, one line spoken by the art thief stood out: ‘I need some art.’ To which the museum’s security guard replies, ‘Art is for pleasure, not possession.’
Do you ever feel like you need some art? I sure have that drive of ownership when I see a painting or print I like. But is just appreciating it enough? Should all art be in museums or galleries for the enjoyment of the masses?
I think about the importance of such drives for possession. Without art appreciators wanting to own art, would artists be so prolific? Could they afford to be?
And then I think about the downfalls of possession. How client demands in a commission can stifle an artist’s creativity. How artists that create with an end result in mind lose something along the way.
These are all questions without definitive answers, thoughts without solutions, but I sought out the opinions of some members in our artist community: an art student, an art therapist, and an art gallery owner. I asked them: Do you agree that ‘art is for pleasure, not possession’? Read on for their takes:
The Artist: Karl Schwiesow
Sierra Nevada College art student
‘In some simple way art can be for pleasure. This all depends on your definition of pleasure. As far as possession goes, people can literally just own art. They do not necessarily own or even understand the conversation that it represents. So, in a sense they do not actually own it. Art for me is not about pleasure or possession. It is about self-expression. It is about communication; it is a language. Occasionally, art is fun to make. This usually happens to be a coincidence and can be quickly degraded into simple work. If a person reads more into art, they begin to understand that art is not about pleasure or possession.’
The Gallery Owner: Pablo Karls
Pablo’s Gallery and Frame Shop
‘Art is for pleasure, not possession. The artist in me says you create a masterpiece for pleasure. Creating art should be fun, not solely to make a profit. Although, in these recession days, unfortunately money does matter.
On the other hand, when I have a client come into my gallery and fall in love with a piece of art on the wall, most of the time they purchase it to have possession of it. By owning the art, they can have pleasure by admiring it their whole life in their own space.’
The Art Therapist: Alice Baldwin
Marriage and Family Therapist Intern at Bristlecone Psychotherapy
‘I deeply believe that art is a natural human trait. Although in the hustle and bustle of modern life we seem to have lost touch with it, it is within all of us. So given this belief I think that art is for pleasure, pain, memories, joy… and all aspects of human emotion and experience. I do not think art is only for pleasure, just because this view seems to somehow diminish the great power and importance of art. I think art is for communication, expression, and experience — and pleasure is often but not always a welcome by-product.
I spend a lot of time thinking about what art ownership means. My first exposure to the commercial art world was attending school at Sotheby’s in London and then working at their competition auction house Christie’s in New York. I wrestled with the fact that works I wished were in museums were in private investment collections where few people could see them. But I also learned that there is a very beautiful and special relationship to art when we start to think about owning it. Collecting art is a super fun activity because we have to understand ourselves and what we like in order to select the right pieces… I say, if people love a piece and can afford it they are doing something great for themselves by buying art.’
If we come back to the poem, reading it to the end, we could take one more thought away. One of the paintings that the thief steals is a Vermeer titled ‘Girl Writing a Letter.’ During the theft she comes alive, helping him with the crime, eventually driving his getaway van, carefree with a beer in her hand. After sitting all those years, she finds freedom in his possession. I think it’s an interesting way to look at how art is entirely different for each person. While Vermeer may have painted the girl writing a simple letter, she’s a renegade writer in the arms of a thief.
~ Read ‘Girl Writing a Letter’ in full and give your opinion at moonshineink.com. For more information on the sources in this story and to see their art, visit alicebaldwintherapy.com, karlschwiesow.com, and pablosgalleryandframeshop.com. More comments from Baldwin and Schwiesow can be read on Lis’s blog, blanksmith.com.
