I've got a lot of gall. I admit it. When I am asked to juror an
exhibition, teach, demonstrate or talk to a group of artists or host a
TV show I don't shy away. I see it as another opportunity to spread the
word about the transformative power of the arts in our society, our
community. I try not to question why I do it anymore. It's important, so
I do it. So do a lot of us.
Recently, however, a fellow artist confronted me about what I hoped to accomplish with all this "educating" I'm doing. "After all," he pointed out, "didn't you start out as an artist?" He went on to explain that the job of an artist is "to express a point of view, to satisfy an inner muse, not to educate the public about the value of arts in our lives." Naturally, this got me thinking, a very dangerous pastime indeed.
He was right. This whole thing started from a love of being inside the creative process. I truly love to express myself. I love ideas. I love to invent. I love the contradictions, which are all part of the making and appreciation of great art. After all, it's just my materials and me. I love to throw myself into an invented structure and fly away into the supreme ecstasy of the moment. Who wouldn't?
So why am I doing all this other stuff? When do I get time for me? What art have I done for me lately? I'm so busy writing this book, hosting TV shows, running a gallery, directing plays, managing programs, when do I have time to be an artist? People have even asked me, "when do you find time for a life," as if to say, "get a life."
Ouch!
It's true. Sometimes I get so wound up with all the stuff I'm doing and so caught up in all the questions about why I'm doing it that my head starts to spin.
Then I get to thinking, what if this whole bit I'm doing IS the art? What if my whole life is a work of art? I've always thought of art as a metaphor for life. But what if the opposite is also true? What if life is a metaphor for art? In other words, what if my entire life were one giant work of art in progress?
Everything I know about life I've learned as an artist. Art is not something I do for a living; it is who I am. It is my access to the present and to eternity and to the spiritually unknowable. I can't imagine doing anything else.
And I'm not alone in this passion. Others too, feel their creative life IS their life. And their lives are powerfully lived because they know who they are and what they are doing. Together, we are the creative community and we are the key to a healthy society.
That's why I talk so much about the need for arts. It's a pretty great life. And I live for the day when everyone can find a way to express their humanity instead of negating one another with hatred and wars and the black and white insanity that comes from a life without art.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying the arts actually contain all the answers to the world's dilemmas. Rather, it is the myriad of questions asked by the artist, which bring us ever closer to the truth. But never close enough to touch it. For instance, how is it possible that an artist can transmit the joy or pain of his/her life through the manipulating of common objects and materials available to everyone? What is it about listening to a Beethoven Symphony that makes being alive somehow make sense? We'd have to ask a lot more questions to get to the "Point of Art." The artist is someone who recognizes an amazing thing when it happens and has just enough skill and courage to create the circumstances where its true expression can be allowed to happen. Being an artist is to walk the thin line between order and chaos. The artist must learn to know when to take control and when to give it up. The lessons only great art can teach us, are a requisite for a balanced, fully realized life.
That's why I can't shut up about the arts. That's why I do what I do. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got some art to make.
Recently, however, a fellow artist confronted me about what I hoped to accomplish with all this "educating" I'm doing. "After all," he pointed out, "didn't you start out as an artist?" He went on to explain that the job of an artist is "to express a point of view, to satisfy an inner muse, not to educate the public about the value of arts in our lives." Naturally, this got me thinking, a very dangerous pastime indeed.
He was right. This whole thing started from a love of being inside the creative process. I truly love to express myself. I love ideas. I love to invent. I love the contradictions, which are all part of the making and appreciation of great art. After all, it's just my materials and me. I love to throw myself into an invented structure and fly away into the supreme ecstasy of the moment. Who wouldn't?
So why am I doing all this other stuff? When do I get time for me? What art have I done for me lately? I'm so busy writing this book, hosting TV shows, running a gallery, directing plays, managing programs, when do I have time to be an artist? People have even asked me, "when do you find time for a life," as if to say, "get a life."
Ouch!
It's true. Sometimes I get so wound up with all the stuff I'm doing and so caught up in all the questions about why I'm doing it that my head starts to spin.
Then I get to thinking, what if this whole bit I'm doing IS the art? What if my whole life is a work of art? I've always thought of art as a metaphor for life. But what if the opposite is also true? What if life is a metaphor for art? In other words, what if my entire life were one giant work of art in progress?
Everything I know about life I've learned as an artist. Art is not something I do for a living; it is who I am. It is my access to the present and to eternity and to the spiritually unknowable. I can't imagine doing anything else.
And I'm not alone in this passion. Others too, feel their creative life IS their life. And their lives are powerfully lived because they know who they are and what they are doing. Together, we are the creative community and we are the key to a healthy society.
That's why I talk so much about the need for arts. It's a pretty great life. And I live for the day when everyone can find a way to express their humanity instead of negating one another with hatred and wars and the black and white insanity that comes from a life without art.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying the arts actually contain all the answers to the world's dilemmas. Rather, it is the myriad of questions asked by the artist, which bring us ever closer to the truth. But never close enough to touch it. For instance, how is it possible that an artist can transmit the joy or pain of his/her life through the manipulating of common objects and materials available to everyone? What is it about listening to a Beethoven Symphony that makes being alive somehow make sense? We'd have to ask a lot more questions to get to the "Point of Art." The artist is someone who recognizes an amazing thing when it happens and has just enough skill and courage to create the circumstances where its true expression can be allowed to happen. Being an artist is to walk the thin line between order and chaos. The artist must learn to know when to take control and when to give it up. The lessons only great art can teach us, are a requisite for a balanced, fully realized life.
That's why I can't shut up about the arts. That's why I do what I do. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got some art to make.
Since 1980, Robert Maniscalco's exquisite oil portraits
and fine art have become part of over 850 distinguished private and
public collections throughout North America. Born in Detroit in 1959, he
is the son of internationally renowned portrait artist Joseph
Maniscalco, with whom he apprenticed during the early 1980's. He moved
to New York City in 1986 where he continued his studies and professional
activities. In NYC he also worked as an actor and director on numerous
stage, film and TV projects. He returned to Detroit in 1997 after a
three year residency in New Orleans. In Detroit he founded the
Maniscalco Gallery, which showcased many local and international
artists. As host of Art Beat, the critically acclaimed PBS series on
Detroit Public Television, he explored the creative process with his
celebrated guests.
Excerpt from "Point of Art" by Robert Maniscalco, advice for the serious artist.
Excerpt from "Point of Art" by Robert Maniscalco, advice for the serious artist.
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