Shostakovitch, Kandinsky and a weightlifter
Dimitri Shostakovitch was 4 years old when Kandinsky wrote “about spirituality in art” and I don’t know if they met, since Kandinsky died in 1944. But anyone who ever listened to Shostakovitch’s music certainly agrees when I describe the emotions that arise while doing so as soul-vibrations. As I write this, I listen to one of his concertos and I immediately thought of Kandinsky’s essay on art mentioning that term. What’s the weightlifter for? Well, in fact I fell on this picture while looking up the death dates of both artists and I found a certain parallel between this rather nordic type of gentleman and the mellow kind of Russian nostalgia type of music in my ears.
It’s about honesty and uselessness. Pushing those heavy weights in a real, very honest effort, for no other reason than to become stronger is about the same as suffering hell trying to compose a musical masterpiece or paint a portrait. When I look at this picture I can’t help to feel a certain admiration and respect towards this guy and his effort. Even though I really don’t logically agree with what he is doing, there is a certain beauty in it. Maybe he does that because he tries to prove something to others or to himself. He might be a nice guy or a mean bastard preparing for street fighting. I don’t know. But the effort is honest in itself and so is the picture. It goes the same with music and art in general.
Some artists work for their own sake and for the beauty of the moment, others train hard just to prove something through fame or money. That question of why do we do what we do is fundamental but we rarely ask it to ourselves. The majority of our daily actions pursue aims we are actually not aware of. Pumping iron like this gentleman is not more stupid than waiting in line to spend 1000$ to buy the latest iPhone. Working 24/7 to buy a Porsche is probably even more ridiculous. Paint tens of paintings with the no other goal then selling them to customers looking just for that kind of artwork is of equal nonsense. Why do we do that?
I think it’s because we don’t listen enough to Shostakovitch and prefer Jennifer Aniston to Henrietta Moraes. I have nothing against J.Aniston, she is probably a wonderful person in private, but in public her image stands for fame, expansive fashion items and success.
Artist are people who ask themselves these questions. Why? How? Why not? What if? But as long as their questions stay private their efforts are useless. Go to a museum today, listen to Shostakovitch while wandering around and ask yourself “why”.
