The Mind Creative
and money show how art can help with many common difficulties—
from forging relationships and finding happiness to accepting
mortality. “Seeking to help readers develop a deeper
understanding of art and of themselves in equal measure, the
book provides fascinating reading for those familiar with art as
well as those new to the subject.”
But they did more than just write the book. They decided to curate
an exhibition that brings the ideas of the book to life. They picked
three museums—the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, The Art Gallery
of Ontario in Canada and the National Gallery of Victoria in
Melbourne. The curators picked select works from the museum
collections and organized them under the five workaday rubrics
like politics, sex etc. mentioned above. The curators provide
written instructions, actual pale yellow Post-it notes, blown up big,
to offer gallery visitors a fresh look at art, offering a problem and
then a note beside each art work suggesting aspects of the work
that might help solve the problem. Armstrong hastens to add,
“What we have written up is not trying to be the truth about the
work. It is not saying, this is what you should think. It is us
saying, that is our comment: now what is yours?”
Murray Whyte of the Toronto Star is one critic who doesn’t
particularly applaud the work of the two scholars. In his opinion
the whole exercise ignores the colossal, towering question of why
on earth, in our chock-full lives of forced utility, we can’t have one
single thing that is mysterious, enigmatic and does not particularly
stand for anything.
I tend to agree.
As a post script, I thought Oscar Wilde’s take on art is appropriate
in this context. Through Dorian Gray he says, “All art is useless,
because its aim is simply to create a mood. It is not meant
to instruct or to influence action in any way. It is superbly
sterile……” suggested by Avijit Sarkar, editor of this E-Zine.
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