Positive and negative impact of art

Positive and negative impact of art

From the cave paintings at El Castillo in Spain which is over 48000 years old to the iconic Mona Lisa, where would we be without art? Art has influenced our very evolution, it has managed to transcend all barriers and attain mythical levels by the sheer beauty of art itself. It has even set one nation against another, and all, in turn, captured beautifully by Leonardo Da Vinci and his now lost, battle of Anghiari. All of this only goes on to showcase that art forms a crucial element in our development process and has and in all probability continue to influence mankind for the foreseeable future. This is why it makes sense to take a closer look at some of the positive and negative impact of art itself.

Positive and negative impact of art

The positive impact of art:

Education: Art has always been the perfect medium in which to convey ideas, emotions and notions to others; after all, you have a blank canvas and putting it to good use by painting an evocative image, to convey a common message was about the only way you could communicate to the masses. Today though, that is no longer the case but the educational aspects of art still remain strong. Most teachers used famous paintings and sculptures to educate their students about physics, math and even on art itself. Today, with our rich heritage in art, including modern art, students are often taken on class excursions to examine these art pieces and even encouraged to imitate some of their preferred artists.

Beauty: Art, in any form only serves to enhance beauty; and this is why most of the art that goes under the hammer get sold at exorbitant rates, and the sum in question is often staggering. That aside, having even a second-hand print of a famous painting in a room should make the room come alive. In fact, Hitler is rumored to have hidden away a huge cache of famous paintings, just before the end of world war two and they remain undiscovered to this date.

Humanity: Often art is used to convey an idea, a suggestion to the user so that they can relate to it. But every so often, an art is created by bringing the whole community together. For example, the cave paintings at El Castillo was created by the whole community who resided there at that time and these representations of their imagination tell us more about them than the art itself. In short, art allows us to explore our boundaries and to connect with the humanity that is within ourselves.

The negative impact of art:

Advertising: More often than not, several leaders had commissioned special paintings as a propaganda item to advertise themselves in a more er..godly way. Of course, the painting did not work the way it was intended but nevertheless several graphic paintings had been commissioned and painted, with the sole objective being of inciting hatred and violence. But thanks to modern technology, painters need no longer resort to subtexts hidden within art itself.

Money: One of the negative aspects of art, if you were to consider it as such is the fact that many famous paintings have been bought by private collectors and are now part of a private collection. These paintings are generally kept under lock and key and will never see the light of day. As a result, most of these paintings remain out of bounds for both public and students alike. This is indeed an invaluable loss, but it is the art community and auction houses in particular, which has fostered this idea of owning a painting in perpetuity by paying the price tag. As a result, most of the public have little to no access to these famous works of art, they cannot view them nor can they assess or even learn from the same.

Traditions: As a result of over-commercialization, most amateur painters are encouraged to paint in a certain way so as to land their first project. Painting used to be about exploring ideas, your immediate environment and working the same into a painting. It used to be less about price tags or wondering which galleries will display the work in question. In short, art today is less about appreciation of the finer things in life and more about prostituting oneself for the highest rate.

These are some of the positive and negative impact of art on our society as a whole; it is evident that true art will continue to shape and mold us for centuries to come, after all, that’s the true objective of any art form, right?

Alan Behrens

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