Art: A Mirror of oneself

Recently, there have been more opportunities for me to rub shoulders with a thing which had seemed so distant from me since my secondary school years.  I professed and seemed to have zero liking for this field but a couple of things had made me re-look at this interesting thing that people call Art.

I remembered I had attended classes as a young primary school kid in those RC courses. I flunked in secondary school as I felt the teacher was more focused on helping girls than boys so I didn’t’ want to try at all. Perhaps the world lost another Picasso from there?

Why do we learn Art? I think it is an important subject that all of us should be exposed to it one way or another when we were young. All of us are winners and talented in some way or another. What the government has tried to instill in our tough education core is to prepare us as well as possible and to expose us as much as possible so that we might pick up the Arts such as music, drawing which will help to refine our inner selves. In our hectic lives, we need some distraction away.. to recharge ourselves so that we can get up and go through this helpless cycle. It is a necessity so that we can last the distance in the human race.

Like writing, we often imagine ourselves in the story as we roam and wander into the imaginary caves and places where it may be impossible to tread at all. Drawing a picture is about the same. It could be an imaginary setting of a dream house – beautiful hut by the river with a nice hilly mountain or hill as a backdrop. It need not be real; but often, the art pieces I see in natural surroundings like a forest or waterfall often fascinates me and makes me marvel about our beautiful Earth.I could stand there , staring at the art pieces and think about the artist's thoughts and feelings then. Why was there a shadow in the water when it is evident from the picture that the sun is at its strongest? At times, a drawing will defy science and logic and that is the interesting part of Art. Of course, if it comes to drawing your Geography  Notebook, please do not draw the moon bigger than our Earth. -tongue in cheek...

A picture tells a thousand words and that is so true. I may need about 3 pages before the reader starts to get absorbed into the storyline. However, just a stare into a picture will ensure that the eye is hooked at least for the next 20 seconds, as the brain starts to decipher the intents of the creator behind that piece of Art.

I had came to know more about Art, albeit a little late; 20 years after I last dropped my pencil following the end of the Art GCE O levels in school. Recently, Christine, a very good friend of Mrs Ussenal aka Jing aka Karen, is really into art and through her passion in Art, it had also relight the interest Jing had in drawing years ago. Not only have they both went for drawing sessions at the Arteastiq; a café/art centre with excellent ambiance and therapeutic sense abilities they say. We have also went to the recent Art exhibition which was held in Singapore at Marina Sands. I had the opportunity to speak to an artist whose paintings were on display but felt sorry to have to admit to her that I do not know how to paint and was only there to accompany others.

As I get to see more art pieces, questions start to arise. At times, I do understand how a drawing of only 3 simple scratches can be considered a rare piece of art. Often, the saying ‘beauty lies in the eye of the beholder’ comes to mind but then again, how does one’s definition of a nice piece of art comes into parallel of another person's definition?

I think a piece of Art is not only related to what you draw. It is a piece of collective. A collection of your time, thoughts, effort, feelings, mood , personality and your principles in life. For example, a person who dislikes flowers will never draw them well. Why? Because  a piece of drawing is not a rubber stamp. It takes time to draw and even more time to refine, erase, re-draw and then apply the colours to it. On top of all these, your feelings, your mood .. You can be sure that the flower will never be as well drawn as compared to the person has no prejudices even if his art drawing skill is inferior. Every stroke in a seriously drawn painting is so masterfully done that Art may seemed like the best mirror to look into.

I have always envied people who knows how to play music as I do not know how. When you are bored and need something to sooth the nerves,  a piano piece could be better remedy than the aspirin. One could also draw and then take in maximum satisfaction that a scene thought of in the head could live out its fiction in a piece of painting. 
Imagine what would the world do if cameras are never invented. Every one would have to paint to capture the beautiful memories. Instead of the thousands of photos in our Facebook, Instagram, it would only probably be 1 picture a month.

I may not know how to play the violin or piano nor know how to draw and even paint well. But as they say God is always fair no matter how you see it. I have learnt how to appreciate what is good music and what is quality pieces of art. Just like you do not need to snatch the michrophone all night in a KTV session to enjoy yourself but you can similarily enjoy by listening to others sing.
Ok, got to go off for now. Pen again when thoughts come. =)