Art Is a Place To Experiment How You Feel About Things
At least that's what Brian Eno told me...
What is the point of art?
Coming in hot and heavy with the big questions this week!
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about purpose and why we choose to do what we do.
The online world and social media in particular is so vast and populated because we all feel the need to share in some capacity.
We all want to give our work, our thoughts, our ideas or our art a place to live and possibly be seen or understood by others. Even if we don’t think we want to share we might be kidding ourselves a little, at least that’s what I think.
I’ve also been thinking a lot about something I’m calling “closing the loop” which is basically just outputting your art or efforts into the world in some way. The output is the final stage and closes the loop of our creativity and allows us to move on to the next phase or project. This is vital to an artists process other wise you are just stuck with the same ideas swelling and combusting into nothing.
I’ve also been thinking a lot about Brian Eno this past week, as he has been the subject of an upcoming video I will be sharing soon on the channel.
I thought it might be fun to share a few Eno related things here so if you aren’t aware of him as an artist you can become aquatinted and then be ready for the new video. A bit of creative homework if you like.
Eno recently released a new book “What Art Does” and below is a clip of him chatting about why he thought it so important to write about this topic and how complex of a things it is to decipher. I will no doubt be grabbing a copy.
I’m interested to know what you think art does? Or what art means or why it’s important? Eno suggests in this video that art is our way of expressing our feelings about life, like a sort of unpacking of our emotions so as to understand and process things. I really like this idea and very much affiliate with it.
When we think of creative gurus no one comes to mind quicker than the legend Rick Rubin. Now I love him, but I have to say that I love Eno more. Sorry Rick.
I was stoked a few years back to see that Eno had been interviewed by Rick Rubin and of course the conversation was nothing short of inspiring and wonderful.
But don’t just listen to Eno talk, listen to him sing and create beautiful and strange sounds as well. He basically created the ambient genre and if you are looking for something to soothe your busy mind I can highly recommend his ambient works, music for airports and Apollo. I often chuck these on if I have a lot of writing to do and it’s very good to be productive to.
My favourite of his though is Another Green World which has more going on than the ambient works, with odd vocals and sounds that are unlikely and interesting as well as songs that are just straight up beautiful like Golden Hours. The album art taken from a painting is also so pleasing and I just love the entire world that is evoked in my mind when I listen to this album.
It’s not often we get these creative powerhouses nowadays and with the recent death of David Lynch, a man who was like no other, it’s made me feel like I want to hold on very tightly to any creative people that have inspired me and shown me new and better ways of thinking.
I know we all poo poo jumping on camera or sharing “content” online and tend to put it in a vapid box of creation that is considered less than other forms, but I truly believe that if Eno, Rick or many others started today they would use the most available platforms to spread their ideas and art with the world.
Sharing is caring as I tell my 4 year old everyday and that applies to art as well.
I’m grateful to get to share here with nearly 5000 of you now!
Thanks for reading and enjoy your weekend discovering things that inspire you.
Love Lucy xx
Interesting read Lucy, however, I think you're disregarding the purpose of making art for most of us creatives, which is the process; the journey. The outcome in most cases is irrelevant, unless, of course it's purpose and intent is to end on a social platform. The end result is in most cases meaningless. I don't think most creatives are comfortable with the thought of sharing their work, it can be quite an anxiety trigger for many. Vivian Maier is the perfect example of this. I do think, however, that creating work with the purpose to hang it up online is a generational thing. I don't know, curious to know your thoughts on this.
Both Eno and Rubin are incredible sources of inspiration, thanks for sharing these vids!
The content you create is very nice! I also like watching the YouTube videos, I learn a lot! Thanks, Lucy :)