It’s Sunday, so I’m going to ponder a bit today. A dear friend of mine many years ago told me about how her brother had written an essay in school about how art is totally unnecessary, and that we could do without it altogether. The essay got top marks too! From then on, the idea of a world without art of any kind, has haunted me…

How would it be exactly? Because art is everywhere – because at the base of human history, is the creative nature of the human mind. Imagine how limited our choices would be in a world without art – no designs on anything, everything plain, no birthday cards with little illustrations, no patterns on our clothes and textiles, not even on our plates and mugs? Barbies, forget the fancy mani/pedi too – no little flower designs there either. How about car designs, how would they be? Would all houses be just like grey council flats? Suicide rates would escalate for sure! No galleries to go to, no museums, and how about the Acropolis, would that have ever been built if the ancient Greeks had absolutely no interest in art? Certainly then Lord Elgin would not have run away with part of it either…nor would so many other artists and photographers have created their own works inspired by that grand archaic masterpiece (eg. see Nelly’s classic photo below).

Humans have been creating art from the beginning of their history – scratching away on the walls of their cave dwellings. Young babies learn to communicate with their parents, sing and dance, and then… they start to draw and paint. And for the most part, they love it. It’s therapeutic!

A world without art would be like living in a mental asylum! White walls everywhere – hang on, not even white, because why bother to paint them at all? That in itself is dubious ‘artistic behaviour’. Plain stone or brick will do nicely. No colour, no visual stimuli, apart ofcourse from those provided by nature. Nature would be our only escape from such an ugly world. So, I think the opposite would be a much better proposition – a world full of art. Therefore support the local art scene, it’s worth it! Especially now, when the crisis is killing it off slowly… After all, it has been supporting you for centuries, whether you appreciate it, realise it, or not.