When touring an art festival take a few minutes to talk some art with the artists themselves. Anyone can visit a gallery, study the various works and give an educated guess as to what the displayed pieces are all about. Only when taking the opportunity to ask the artist about their pieces do you learn the true expression of their masterpieces and how deep that expression truly goes. Chances are when you show interest in their works, they will tell you the entire story behind the meaning of the creation that you ask about.
For the viewers fine art is entertainment, a way to add beauty to the indoors, let a child play around with their creative side, a hobby, a past time, etc. Unknown to a great many, fine art is seldom trivial. One of the many faces or depths of art is emotion. How many people are out there who avoid talking about how they feel? Roughly, nine out of ten. Art can help give an emotional outlet for those nine out of ten people who are artistically inclined. For the others, nearly all can find a deeply emotional piece that they can relate to and the artist to connect with. People often hear how a child prone to behavioral outbursts takes up music classes and after a few weeks has a healthier outlet source. A wonderful thing but why is it that no one has heard of the emotionally introverted child who is given art classes and can now express oneself in a healthy structured way? Is this achievement any less worthy than the other? Absolutely not, so the next time a story of a child aided through art comes into the light, help out the next child or children and pass it on.
People should never stereotype artists as being only depressed or misunderstood in a negative way. The truth is many are happy healthy people. Yes fine art is deeply emotional but do not confuse all deep emotion with sadness or pain. Remember the happy ones as well such as a parent's pride in their child's milestone achievement or the joy of living life with the ones you love. Emotions stretch from one side of the spectrum to the other as does art. Is it any wonder why these two are so often intertwined?
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