The Significance Of Visual Art

Human beings have been creating visual art for tens of thousands of years. For the intelligence of our race to continually revisit this practice of illustration, there must be significance beyond it just being pleasing to the eye. Superficial trends of behavior, which aren’t actually useful to our society, wax & wane with the times. But themes which repeat themselves across great stretches of history indicate not a luxurious & whimsical want, but a primal need that must be met. A desire to be fulfilled or else unfavorable consequences will occur. When I reflect on the psychological guidelines of our wellbeing, I find myself remembering the famous & accurate Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. A roadmap of stepping stones towards our ultimate destination. If you reference this map, which is in itself a piece of visual art (I will touch on this later), alongside human action throughout history, you will see that although we are an intelligent race of beings, we are predictable in nature. Every one of us, even if it appears different in style upon the surface, follows the same structure of development from wanting safety to transcendence & everything in between. This article is an effort to explain the impact of visual art & our tendency to rely upon it, at each level of this hierarchy of which no person is exempt. Before this dive, you must know there are various lenses to view the world. One can perceive life as a physicist, a biologist, a philosopher, etc. Of the universe’s influence, I have always seen this experience as an incredible mosaic. So I refer to everything as a work of art. Hence my interest & interpretation of the subject at hand. Now, let’s begin. 

The first two tiers deal with the physiological & safety. It contains the basic needs for food, water, shelter, sleep, clothing, reproduction, health etc. Let me ask you a series of simple questions. Would you consume bread with mold growing upon its surface? Would you drink water mixed with sewage waste? Would you sleep & spend time in a house infested with roaches? Would you wear shoes with gaping holes in them? Would you engage sexually with someone you found to be hideous? If you feel your skin crawling just by imagining these events, the same way I did while writing them, then congratulations, your visual instinct which keeps you alive & on track towards prosperity is fully functioning! Even without interacting with these moments in your experience, there is already an adverse reaction to them. There is something deep within you, an innate knowing, that’s communicating to your conscious mind to “avoid at all cost”. Each one of these examples which are detected first by the eyesight, although not art as you may typically think, are actually paint strokes of the divine. These scenes of nature can be observed as a piece of work reminiscent of what you could see in a gallery; & your natural response to them, is the key which keeps you on track to live sensibly. We are drawn to food & water that look clean. We are attracted to shelters that look pristine. We desire clothes that look intact. There is a drive to reproduce with people who look healthy. Why? Because they are all those positive descriptions at the base biological level. The foundational level which provides the opportunity to sense higher realms of development. A time old saying which states “you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover”, isn’t all that accurate in certain situations if your vision is clear. Yes, there are false assumptions you can make about a person, place, or thing by using your imagination (as opposed to your attention). But if you look at dirty water, & drink it anyway, because you want to “read the book”, then you could quite possibly die due to the liquid being ridden with disease. At this level, visual art signifies life or death. An incredibly useful tool.

The next two tiers involve love, belonging, & self esteem. They contain the needs of connection & status. At this stage, the role of visual art becomes less about supporting our biological existence, & more about orienting our social identity after survival has been taken care of. This is where us as human beings begin to distinguish ourselves from other creatures upon this magical planet. & upon this spinning rock floating in space, human societies are organized by documented symbols we call language. They are visual tools to concentrate unlimited potential & dispel the ambiguity of our nebulus minds into intellectual, manageable parts. A buffer against chaos. You may be thinking “language isn’t visual art”. But if you look very closely at each word & letter you are reading this instant, past the voice in your head, you will see that they are just interesting squiggles you’ve assigned meaning to. Don’t believe me? Observe the Chinese alphabet. To a billion people, it’s as normal of a tool as how we perceive English. But to us, it’s art simply because we haven’t ascribed meaning to it. When you look upon the signals of this world with a silent mind, everything is art. & this vital vein of art connects countless numbers of people across the globe. Imagine if each person on earth understood only their own written language, had their own currency note, & waved their own flag. The profound convenience we take for granted of our society having amazing levels of regulation & communication would be impossible. Visual art solves this paramount problem of the disorientation caused by isolation. When a group uses the same alphabet, they can connect their ideas & emotions with one another just as I attempt to do now. An agreed upon banknote, which appears different all across the world, amongst a collective efficiently facilitates the flow of goods & services supporting a nation’s prosperity. A country’s flag has the power to bring its people under one belief system to organize its parts towards a common goal. & try to travel by car to a new destination not even thirty minutes away without perhaps the most useful form of visual art, a map. You will most likely end up in the most terrifying state for a human being: lost. This is the precursor to impending doom. The closest we can come to our greatest fear of death, while being alive, is being lost. Maybe you don’t see this fact because as a modern individual whose entire life has been guided by symbols you’ve been educated to understand, you’ve truly never experienced the sensation of being completely disintegrated from your environment & consumed by the unknown. But if you look closely at your behavior, you may even be afraid of striking up a conversation with a stranger because you’re keeping the unknown at bay. & you run towards your old friends with a great smile. The new interaction could be brilliant, or horrifying. We don’t know. But the vigorous tendency to survive wants to keep danger as far away as possible. Hence the neverending pursuit of our societies throughout history to utilize the power of visual art to minimize unpredictability. They serve as our compass & keep our minds at ease. Just as our ancestors used the visual spectacles of shining stars in the night sky to ensure they were moving straight. Even now as I write this piece, I am continually referencing Maslow’s pyramid as my compass to create a coherent string of ideas. Otherwise, I may drift off into an irrelevant tangent & veer into useless wandering. An aimless trek which degrades one's self esteem overtime. We are at our most dignified when we have the sense that we know where we’ve been, where we are, & where we are going. This context would be impossible without the use of vision & visual tools. Why do people acquire large houses? Luxury cars? Expensive watches? Premium art? They serve the same primal function as smaller houses, common cars, cheap timekeeping tools, & basic artworks. Again, it goes back to the significance of the symbol. There is a sense of achievement & rank they wish to convey to themselves, & other people. To proudly exclaim their self image not through the limitation of sound based language, but through universal visuals that “After my arduous efforts, I have attained wealth. This is proof of where I stand amongst the hierarchy”. They desire to continually rise up the totem pole, transmuting work into rewards, ingrained tendency imprinted on everyone of us. Which brings us to the final two tiers of this dive (or climb. Whatever works for you).

The top two levels of our map of needs is self actualization & transcendence. They involve the desires of realizing one’s full potential, seeking personal growth, peak experiences, & ultimately awakening to dimensions of life beyond one’s ego to join the larger picture. The true composition which surmounts the spiritual problem of attaining enlightenment or self awareness. This, I believe, is the only real longing of the human being because it isn’t a detour conjured by the imagination subject to cultural conditioning. It is the existentialocean where each flowing river, in their own styles, meet at the end of the journey. Those who travel along the continual adventure of being all that one can be, most likely have role models they look up to, or vision boards used to counteract distraction. They create environments within their physical surroundings & their mind which keep their eyes on the target to allow the power of inspiration to guide them. Every major religion on the planet has these symbols, these blueprints of morality & excellence within the framework of their structure. Christianity has Jesus & the cross. Islam has the prophet Muhammad, the crescent & star, & the kaaba. Taoism has Lao Tzu & the ying yang. Hinduism has Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, & the aum. They are examples of human behavior optimized which we can envision & remember which way to go in this world where there are endless directions to walk. When we find ourselves overwhelmed, disconnected, or lost, we can recall a symbol, a visual representation of our chosen path, to orient our senses towards victory. These psychological tools bring us to a mental state beyond the appearing & disappearing frames of reference caused by passing thought & emotion into a more stabilized, truthful being. Just as pilgrims travel to Mecca & circle around the kaaba, every persona revolves around some symbol whether they are aware of it or not. It is the nature of thought structure to identify a center (or else it will devolve into psychosis). An immovable point from which all ideas circulate. & because the basis of thought is imagination, this point must be an image one can rely upon to transcend the temptations of low hanging fruit. These upper echelon forms of visual art have the power to dissolve the allure of egocentric entertainment. They guide our life energy & attention to depths of meaning which lead to those peak experiences we all desire. From perceiving only waves of water to the oceanic feeling. From fragmentation to union. I have experienced myself that equanimity is the key to a human being reaching their full life’s potential in perception & expression. It is the fertile soil of mind that delivers one from compulsion to choice. & for this reason I create photographic artworks infused with this meditative perspective I have been developing over the past twelve years. In short, I paint with light to pause the mind. It is my wish to open this ocean within you through my work. & I hope after reading this text, your daily life is filled with a vision rich with meaning.