that’s a question I heard in a museum
once and it kind of stuck with me this
entire talk will be a response to that
one question so lady in the green
sweatshirt National Museum of London
this one’s for you what is the point
art really is a cornerstone of human
civilization it’s part of what makes us
human and I often hear people talking
about robots and sentience and these
discussions they always end on the fact
that a robot can gain sentience because
it can’t feel you can’t teach a robot
emotion they’re beyond description
they’re singular in that they are just
that emotion and I think this is really
what art is an attempt to create so
let’s move on to the real crux of what
I’m talking about there’s this French
painter that really fascinates me his
name is Rene Francois Aslam agree and
one of his most famous works it’s called
the treachery of images now there it is
on the slide there and while all you
just shout out one word that you think
of when you see this painting pipe
surrealism there as well so this is a
painting of a pipe on a canvas and
underneath the pipe is written this is
not a pipe in French and at first it’s
easier to see this and think this is
another one of those pretentious art
house pieces that’s minimalistic for no
reason but actually it isn’t as the
young lady pointed out this is one of
the most easily accessible pieces of
modern surrealist art in the world right
now I think what’s so great about this
picture is that it comes as a really
meta artistic idea the idea of
representation so what I love about this
is that it’s a painting that really
confronts you it literally asks you a
question and it makes you question it
it’s like a really big dude it’s a big
painting it’s 25 inches by 35 inches
it’s on a big canvas it’s like a really
big guy coming up to you and saying this
is not a pipe but is that enough so
let’s go back to on the great
philosophical minds of our era lady in
the green sweatshirt the National Museum
of London who said but like what’s the
point let’s answer that question I think
this meaning is all about art it’s about
how art makes you ask questions and it’s
how a single
image can have and hold innumerable
meanings um the act of painting a pipe
on a canvas and saying this is not a
pipe on it wasn’t to be pretentious it’s
to really show that art is
representative and it’s really quite
literal this isn’t a pipe just like the
Mona Lisa isn’t a real person it’s a
representation of a pipe but why is that
important well because that’s the
baseline of anything artistic these
representations these expressions will
ultimately inform and what people will
look back at on past societies and
civilizations so that’s one of the
really important things about this piece
it’s pure creativity imagination thought
emotion is creation it’s a sleepless
night it’s a shower thought it’s a
fleeting idea poured onto a canvas and
isn’t it beautiful and that’s maybe what
brings up the glory point that are
grateful I’ll saw philosophical was
talking about so if you want to
understand the importance of
self-expression you have to look at the
people who created the act of creating
something I believe is inherently
selfish because all the greatest works
of art really impact people and take the
selfishness from the artists point of
view I think to think that they have
this unique perspective that will
actually impact people and it also
highlights this symbiotic relationship
that exists between the artists and the
consumers of art art can’t be effective
it can’t be worth anything unless it
affects people and us as consumers of
art need to be willing to let it into
our lives and not be quick to dismiss it
and that dismissal of new perspective is
what leads to ignorance at its core
that’s what art is not ignorant but a
new perspective
similarly there seems to be one of the
main things that drives artists artists
forward is discussion and debate and
that’s kind of lacking I think in lorne
society debate and discussion on a piece
of art not only encourages people to
express their own thoughts and opinions
but also encourages new ideas and
perspectives to flourish and also
highlights this sort of cyclical nature
that exists between art and the artist
and that’s another thing that’s great
about this painting we’re an art
inspires art and the most obvious
examples of this that I can talk about
is music if you look back at how modern
musicians were inspired by people that
lay listen to you when they grew up and
how
channeled their sound you can even look
back at the rock-and-roll movement of
the 50s 60s and 70s and how bands like
Led Zeppelin and the WHO and the Rolling
Stones were inspired by blues musicians
like Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters those
people listen to the blues musicians and
what they were doing and they were
really inspired by them and they evolved
on their sound and in turn inspired a
whole new generation of musicians that
cycle really just keeps repeating on and
on and on
I keep repeating the term
self-expression and I think that’s
because there really is no substitute
that better encompasses what I’m trying
to say art is self-expression and all
that means is that it’s a form of
creative output we as people express
ourselves every day we say how we feel
if we like something if we don’t like
something we tell people and we do this
through language and we do through
emotion and that the crux of any form of
creative output is a broader concept
being expressed through an
unconventional medium and all
unconventional is to say is that it’s
not directly expressed a little bit like
this is not a pipe it’s telling you
something but truly this is the most
effective way of expressing yourself
because if I have a point to make and I
tell people at that point is sure
they’ll listen but I can only keep them
interested for so long my reach is
limited as a human being that kind of
sounds ironic saying think what I’m
doing right now but we’ll go with it
yeah but if I transfer that concept the
idea to a medium that has a potential
stand the test of time and isn’t limited
by my reach as a human being I am
empowering the idea it becomes bigger
than me or any one person and why would
you not want to do that it’s my real
question maybe that also makes part of
the point so one thing that really
stagnant and restricts our means for
artistic expression is prejudice
prejudice against artistic mediums you
can look at developing art forms and
some have this stigma in them that the
art created within them is inherently
artistic and isn’t valued as highly as
other mediums and what this does is it
creates this dismissal of new
perspective that I’m talking about and
what happens is these newly developing
art forms they don’t have the ability to
grow into something that people can
actually respect and the people that
work within them or then they aren’t
able to create more at the base than
they should and when you approach these
mediums in this way with this mindset of
prejudice
you’re really dismissing these new
experiences and perspective
that the the art form has to offer and
the beauty of hat but that’s okay that
there’s nothing wrong with that the
beauty of having these different forms
of creative output is that it gives you
as a consumer of art the choice you can
like things and you can not like things
so that’s fine the problem lies when
people don’t respect the creative
process to say or imply that that
artistic medium has no artistic merit is
a disrespect everyone that works within
that medium and everyone who’s found
married within pieces in that medium and
that again least that dismissal of new
perspective and is ultimately bad for us
as a society
so in exceptionally great New York Times
article I read the other day these two
novelists Thomas Malin and Pankaj Mishra
discussed whether there was such a thing
as low and highbrow art terms I’m sure
you’ve all heard before I won’t spoil
what they concluded but I will tell you
what I think I don’t really believe in
the terms low and highbrow art I’m one
of those people that really thinks art
is just what you make it the problem I
think with these rigid definitions of
art is that really it’s such a personal
concept and the emotion that I or you
get out of any piece of art is solely
individual to you or me and it can’t be
shared with anyone else so really who is
any one person to say that one piece is
more effective than another or any piece
of art in a city to be successful really
is affect someone anyone doesn’t matter
so now article Thomas Malin points out
that according to Wikipedia the term
highbrow was popularized by will Owen
who’s reporter for the Sun magazine and
he popularized it in 1902 let’s talk a
bit about will or when he was an
interesting guy he thought that people
who were really intelligent had really
big foreheads so you can really see the
absurdity of that term my problem with
these distinctions is that it’s really a
platform for artistic elitism and
prejudice to thrive there’s a notion
that consumers of lowbrow art don’t look
at fiber art because they don’t
understand it it’s too much for their
feeble brains to comprehend but highbrow
consumers will often look at low growl
or to get a better understanding of
what’s influencing the Vox Populi and
just to see and inspire themselves
because you know they’re above all of us
I think Alexander Hudson the Russian
writer put it best when he said art is
not at ease
the stiff over neat thrifty house of the
petite bourgeoisie see our know about
you guys we’re just saying that’s made
me kind of Angry but what do I know I
don’t have a Wikipedia page and
Alexander Herzen has a very very very
long one so simply put I’m not a fan of
these strict definitions of good or bad
art that’s not to say I’m gonna compare
a drawing done by a child with Crayola
Crayons to a DaVinci portrayed technical
skill can be measured I’m not going to
salute that but it never guarantees
emotional impact it doesn’t matter how
masterfully you execute your painting
piece of music film sculpture doesn’t
matter it will never guarantee that
people actually get emotion out of it
there has to be that emotional crux that
influences it I’d like to end with a
quote by Stephen Fry he said a true
thing poorly expressed is a lie and that
really captures the essence of any
artistic endeavor you know the process
of finding a truth and trying to express
that and whether the truth is expressed
effectively is really down to you all as
consumers of art you get to choose that
and I’d like to add on to that that any
idea that isn’t expressed is wasted so
I’d like to urge all you to go out there
put that pen to paper be more active
consumers of art be more active creative
of art and always ask what is the point
but when you do note that the only
person who can answer that and who owes
and you an answer to that is yourself
thank you
[Applause] [Music]