ART|WRITING|CREATIVE WRITING

Why Art Is As Important As Breathing

Being creative is part of our DNA

What does it mean? More importantly, do we care? Photo by Henrik Dønnestad on Unsplash

As headlines go, this recent one in The Guardian’s Saturday Supplement couldn’t be any more eye-catching: Should We Abolish Art?

As it turned out, the provocative title (probably thought up by a clever sub-editor) was all barking but not much biting. What the article’s author, critic and art historian Morgan Falconer, wanted to convey was a different message: the democratisation of art. In a nutshell, going back to basics.

According to Morgan, we’re moving back to a time when patrons ruled the art market. Portraits glorifying their subjects were all the rage in Renaissance Europe. 21st century patrons want a similar treatment apparently. The consequence of this is that art has been reduced to a canvas in a frame ready to be purchased by a hedge fund manager or billionaire tech bro.

It’s interesting how art has infiltrated almost every sphere of our human existence. And yet, when compared to some of our basic functions such as eating and procreating, it’s one we could have done without.

Or could we?

My knowledge of evolution is not that deep, but at some point in our development a need to share the beauty around us must have…