So not being a philosophy major, or even a traditional college grad, I've never explored the relationship between art and morality before. I never thought about it. Doing a quick Google search, I discovered the great philosophers have indeed written extensively about the subject.
I just thought of art as the
creation of something beautiful or interesting, decorative or useful, or a
combination of any of these.
I do realize that art can
be/is an expression of the artist's thoughts, beliefs, pain, joy.
I understand that artists support
their personal causes with their talent and there are many examples of such
endeavors. Hats off to them.
I suppose there are artists
who use their gift to purposely cause division among people, perhaps in an
effort to bring light to perceived injustices or perhaps to just be
controversial.
Certainly, there are artists
who use their gift to express spirituality.
So, yes, as I write and
think this through, I can see where Art and Morality clash, collide, support, converge,
and especially, engage.
However, the relationship among a community of artists may be another mindstreaming subject. And again, I'm thinking out loud here.
The soul of most creatives is
like a Monet painting - a blurry mess of color. Or a delicate Japanese cherry
blossom print. A twisted Picasso. An abstract Pollack. One person described the
artist's mind as "a browser with 2,857
tabs open. All.The.Time." I think that one's my favorite.
Whatever is going on inside
the artist comes out in their work. It's individualistic and to be respected. But when we get together as a community, our binding link is our common calling to be creative. We
bond over sharing our love for the medium. Debating
politics or religion doesn't accomplish that in this construct. Potentially hot subjects should be explored only in the context of how it is being expressed in the
artist's work. ART is the point, the uniting center, the nexus for an artist
community.
The Supreme Court's ruling involving
Hobby Lobby is, like just about everything nowdays, highly charged. For our
community it is potentially polarizing.
It's personal to us because it is an
art resource yet now we feel obligated to take a stance. But are we morally obliged? That's for you to decide.
My hope is that each person would make a private decision whether
to spend their hard-earned money there or not. Private decision. Not a campaign
which opens the door of judgement against those who decide differently.
Because, as a community of
creatives, don't we just want to make art?
When engaged in a similar
conversation, an artist friend of mine in Chicago expressed it best, in the
most basic of terms:
"I just wanna make cool shi!#."
