Honors College Art & Science of Emotions Fall 2017 (1:20 p.m.) Happiness Group Journal | Page 23

and Biophilia. We visually combined these ideas, along with other thoughts, into six different elements within the painting. These symbols include a person, calendar, to-do list, phone, door frame, and pills. Abstractly, these components represent what accompanies the expectations that society has for our lives. This pressure creates a rift in our ability to achieve absolute happiness. Theoretical and complex ideas such as happiness can be difficult to understand. Therefore, words are not always the clearest modality to educate, thus demonstrating the importance of art. Using artwork to describe dilemmas in society allows for new perspectives to be taken. Sometimes, it can be easier to understand a thought if you can physically see it, as opposed to being able to read or discuss it. Artwork is relevant in our world because there are countless imperfections present within it. We are constantly blinded by the gap between society’s intentions and the reality of a situation. With artwork, we have a physical, tangible object that we can manipulate to recognize these flaws. Artwork available publicly has the potential to elicit emotions in viewers, and helps individuals to fully understand the human character. Since seeing is believing, if we continue to use artwork as a way to express our frustration towards issues in our lives, we can then work together to properly resolve them. 23