Wednesday, September 17, 2008

eve & adam 2, art, spirituality

frank waaldijk, the creation of adam and eve
the creation of adam and eve (own work, 2005, mixed media on paper)

i'm still neglecting this blog, for which i apologize (especially now that the blog attracts well over a 100 visitors a day). however, my other blog pitfalls of spirituality deals with about 16 subjects [19 pitfalls as of may 2009], of which i have now covered more than half. so in due time i should be back here with full attention.

actually, this split attention touches on the question what one can perceive as the role of art, and of artists, in society. my other blog deals with pitfalls of spirituality (see previous post for a link). but i find that out of this blog, images are coming to me, drawings, sculptural ideas, which perhaps carry a much directer message. which is critical in nature, just as the blog.

on the other hand, a lot of what i think of as `positive' spirituality has been playing a large role in my work ever since i started out as an artist, over 25 years ago.

and i would like to think that art can play a role in our uplifting. both emotionally, by providing beauty, solace,... and spiritually, by appealing to the level where we feel connected to other human beings.

therefore, art confronting us with suffering or abuse of people, might touch us in a way that a written report cannot. also,as another example, art showing the loving equality between woman and man might give some counterweight to all the stereotyping which we are confronted with from advertising and other outer-wrapping oriented endeavours.

this is my hope. i also believe it to be (and to have been) the hope of many other artists whose work can be classified as `spiritual' or `drawing on spiritual values'.

pablo picasso, boy watching woman
pablo picasso, boy watching woman (details unknown to me)

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