Saw Santana in concert last night. What would it be like as a visual artist to be painting the same thing as one painted 30 years ago, like Carlos playing Oyez Como Va or Black Magic Woman over and over again because the listener gets transported to a pleasant moment back in time. Music can take you on an emotional journey for an hour or two and leave you amazed and feeling what was expressed by the musicians. What about a work of visual art?
For a brief moment last night, I felt inferior as a visual artist vis a vis the musical art form. I’m often moved by extraordinary works of music and occasionally literature. I thought for a second that rarely does a painting make a lasting impression on me but then I smiled, remembering. There are actually many that have/and still do. Just about any Van Gogh will bring tears, Monet brings peaceful breathing, DeKooning and Rothko bring a well of emotion from somewhere I didn’t know existed. And so on with powerful images that can take you on a journey, just like a piece of music.
But that’s the real beauty of art work; there is no one single solution. Every work is filtered through the artist’s own experiences, knowledge and talent.
And it can all get under your skin.