The title of this post has become my muse. It came into my mind whilst listening to Front Row yesterday – the discussion about whether we need art in our lives or not. I often try to imagine what my life, any life, would be without art – but can’t.
We seem to mull this over time and time again, but surely there’s a simple litmus test – take it out.
imagine that
nothing exists that relates to art in our lives
nothing designed – no architecture, furniture, cutlery, ovens, cars, NOTHING made – only natural stuff, like mud from the ground etc.
no machines for production
how long would it be before we picked the mud up, shaped it into something, something with no purpose, just a beautiful shape? or some wool from a sheep and twist it around our fingers?
no man-made music, just nature sounds.
but we wouldn’t be allowed to hum those sounds, or mimic then, because that would be a creative process
we would be stripped bare
of all that enriches our lives
naked in the true sense of naked
we would have nothing
Carolyn Black 