Blog: The Soul of Art

Featured image: On My Way To The Circus

Does the work speak to your soul?

What has happened to the idea that a person’s value (worth) is not gained through the networks she travels and associates with but, rather, a person’s value (worth) is what it is because of their own merit and for what they’ve done?  Why is it that a person only has value because of what group they belong to and what people are their friends? Do we not look at the person anymore? Why has the person and what they’ve done lost value?  

I think the same thing has happened to the concept of “art.”  Art is no longer valued for the fact that it was done by an artist who knows himself or herself and that the work speaks to and from their soul, from their humanity, and from their honesty.  Why is it that the value of art is gained mainly through the networks that the artwork and the artist are associated with? When was the last time you looked at a work of art, not for how it could be linked to your room or your sofa, but instead by how much you personally could relate to it and the artist  or, by how much your soul and your humanity related to the soul and humanity of the creator of the work? 

What I know, if I know anything, I have imagined.  I have imagined it from myself. Everything I have ever done, every book I have ever read, everything I have ever seen, every conversation I have ever had, I have imagined. 

If you want to be an artist and speak to others and for others, first speak to yourself.  Search within. Consider the contents of your own soul and your humanity. And, if you are honest with yourself, then, whatever you create, will be true and honest and have value. 

-Christine Alfery