Does Art Need To Serve A Purpose?
Maybe or maybe….. :)
What Is Art?
Art is just a depiction of reality. The more this depiction is true the more wow it receives. Any kind of art is based on reality, or a more appropriate way of putting it would be that art depicts life.
What Does Art Do?
Remember watching that beautiful scenery that drew “wow” from your lips effortlessly. Remember that scene of a film that depicted the true essence and feeling of that situation that was being portrayed in that movie? The on-point acting, the right framing choices, and the brilliant direction made you feel and cry for that character and scene. It created an illusion that it is a reality, and all of that is happening right at that moment. That was not reality but they were portraying reality, that is what art does. Art, no matter in which form it manifests is always an attempt to depict life.
Artists Are Thinker, Philosophers, and Analysts of society
This task of depicting life properly requires one to be creative. Which is the foremost reason why artists are often called geniuses. And they are genius because it is not possible for a common man to create art, it is only a work of a genius.
Artists have very deep thinking and observing skills, which differentiate them from common people. They are never afraid to walk alone. They always try to create their paths for themselves. They do not usually copy others, or in other words, we can say they are not very prone to herd mentality. Instead, they are usually searching for and looking for unique and truthful perspectives and angles of life. This is why they are a hell of different from common people. This is what makes them an artist.
They have very critical views about society, their worldview is very much deep and outstanding. It is because they have this innate ability of critical thinking.
you probably have heard this, “Art is the mirror of a society.” It is very true because people who are creating it, qualify to do so.
An Artist Have A Perspective
Every artist ever lived had a unique perspective about; life, love, society, and almost everything. This unique perspective of an artist reflects in their work. So, any art piece when presented by an artist it has always had that unique perspective of them in their art piece. This is why according to me David Lynch a famous film director once said;
I think new screenwriters are too worried it has all been said before. Sure it has! But not by, You. ~David Lynch
Art Talks To Unconscious Mind
Art does not always talk to us directly, it is mostly without deliberation. It is a communication of unconscious minds. It says subtle things in a hidden manner and hidden thoughts in a subtle way. On a surface level, one may be reading a romantic novel but it can be answering existential questions on an unconscious level.
What Is The Purpose Of An Art?
So lastly, we will be talking about that what is the purpose of art?
This is a question that arose in my mind when I had a little debate with someone about whether any art piece should have a purpose.
To which I do not agree, because when an art piece holds a deliberate attempt of delivering an idea or message it becomes propaganda. It never remains an art. As we have already discussed that artists have a unique perspective, so the only purpose of art should be to deliver that unique perspective. Which can only be done by not making conscious efforts to deliver a certain message. An artist should always let it flow out of them. Because that only can be a fair contribution of an artist to the ocean of art.