What is art?

Art is apparently something quite conceptual that a lot of people don’t seem to be able to understand. I can’t understand anyone who can’t understand art, but I suppose that’s similar to how people who excel at math can’t seem to understand how I can understand and use words or how I can conceive of art. While I don’t grasp people who can’t conceive of art, I have an even lesser comprehension of people who have absolutely no comprehensive understanding of art. Then there are those who profess to dislike art. What is there to not understand or to dislike? While it is granted that people may not like or understand certain types of art, I feel that there has to be a tremendous social disconnect to completely disregard something, especially when that something pertains to virtually every facet of existence. Math is art. Science is art. Nature is art. Literature, music, film, and design are all art. Just about everything is art. The only thing required by art is that one has the foggiest notion of an imagination when looking at it. Observe. Think. Interpret. The end. It doesn’t have to be pretty and it doesn’t have to be functional or sensible; it just has to inspire.




Recently, there was an art display installed on the McCarthy Mall of the University of Hawaii at Manoa campus. It started on a Friday with a giant, caterpillar like tube of textile slinking across the green grass that was big enough for a person of moderate height to walk through with out stooping. It seemed like about a 50-50 ratio for people walking through it or not. On Monday morning there were an additional number of smaller textile pieces dispersed around the mall. People were bemused and confused by this display. I heard a lot of comments along the lines of: “What is it?” “What does it mean?” “I don’t get it.” What’s the point?” The point, you fools, is to slightly skew your concept of reality, to challenge your mind, to make you think, and maybe to inspire your imagination with a sense of playful wonderment. The point is that there is no point other than the point that you, the observer, make it out to be. So, I walked through the hole in the giant worm and marveled at how incredibly dull people can be.

From the January 2012, Manoa Arts & Minds newsletter:

Life in Colors in Hawai‘i 2012

University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa’s Commons Gallery,
Art Building
January 17 – 27
Mon – Fri 10:30 am – 4:00 pm, Sunday 12 noon – 4:00 pm
Academy Art Center at Linekona,
Honolulu Academy of Arts
January 15 – February 15
Mon – Sun from 8:00 am – 9:00 pm

The University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa and the Academy Art Center at Linekona present “Life in Colors in Hawai‘i” by the internationally renowned textile artist, Akihiko Izukura, from Kyoto, Japan. “Life in Colors” is exhibited at two locations—both with indoor and outdoor displays; the show features impressive large-scale textile installations, splashes of color on the landscape, as well as innovative examples of his natural dyeing and weaving. The philosophy behind Izukura’s art pieces is based on sustainability and the desire to improve the surrounding environment and hand it down to the next generation in a better state than it is now. In conjunction with the show, Izukura offers personalized Senshokudō [dyeing and weaving] workshops at the Academy Art Center at Linekona and a public lecture at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.

Hawai‘i is an ideal location for “Life in Colors.” The natural beauty of the islands, with its underlying radiance and power, provides inspiration to Izukura, a natural textile artist, who seeks to find a path for people to coexist with nature.

Beach Memorials

Awile back, there was an article in the Honolulu Weekly about the phenomenon of beach memorials around Oahu. Beach memorials are a beach-side take on road-side memorials that have often become popular at sites of traffic accident deaths. These memorials create controversy because they're placed by the family and friends of deceased people in a public space. They're illegal, they can be unsightly, and they're costly to remove. However, the government is hard up for cash and does not take the initiative to enforce laws or remove the memorials. So, who is really losing here? The idea of one memorial might not seem so terrible, but what about when they start multiplying and popping up all over the place?

Beach Memorials

Is there space for all our public displays of grief?

by Curt Sanburn | Dec 14, 2011

 

^“In Loving Memory of Robbie and Kalakekuewa, 1969–2011,” says the smooth-faced boulder in big, grey-paint letters for all to see. On the margin, scrawled above a petroglyph-style sketch of a paddler, is the name of a canoe club, Healani. “Cherish memories” is written by the drawing of a maile-draped ‘ukulele. All in all, it’s a sweet and touching memorial that will last until it weathers away or gets wiped clean by a sandblaster. The upright stone is close to water’s edge, right next to the landmark Alan Davis Ranch wall separating the city’s Wawamalu Beach Park from the state’s Ka Iwi Scenic Shoreline Park in southeast Oahu.

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