What Art Does by Brian Eno and Bette A. is a short, wonderful, and accessible book (118 pages and at least half of it is Bette A’s art) that I highly recommend.
Like good art, Eno and Bette A. weave a simple but nuanced story with many layers. This book reflects the philosophy and ambition that Ruth and I subscribe to and the reason we started the ArtingConversations blog. At its heart, it’s about how art changes us, helps us see the world, and helps us become what we are capable of being.
Eno and Bette A. kick off with the statement “ making art seems to be a universal human activity,” citing costumes, jewelry, tattooing, body paint, to name a few. While none of this art is strictly required to live, we humans choose to live with it.
Art, they note, is added where function ends. They use the example of a screwdriver – the blade is all function, but the handle is ripe for art – it can be decorated in many ways – different colors, dots, carving.
We add wallpaper or paint to our walls, serve our meals with engraved cutlery and painted plates, embroider, bejewel or just match our clothing, grow flowers in our garden or put them in a glazed vase on our tables or paint them on paper, drum our fingers against our bodies as we walk, and sing in the shower. We add art to our lives all the time.
Why? What does art do, the authors ask.
Their answer is beautiful – art makes feelings happen. They argue that art achieves this by providing a safe, harmless, fictional way of letting us tap into those feelings.
Art allows and enables someone to experience a range of emotions, which are essential to our survival, but we struggle to manage, prepare for or cope with. The real world has consequences – art does not. Art invites us onto a battlefield, on a ship tossed in a storm, through a lover’s rejection or the fires of hell. Art dares us to dance in the snow, lap against the sandy shores, and laugh with clowns. Through art, we become soldiers, pirates, presidents, shipwreck survivors, parents, children, shop workers, ballerinas, tenement dwellers, immigrants, and goddesses. Art opens an emotional doorway into worlds we may never know or know too well.
Eno and Bette A. go deeper with each chapter. They remind us that art thrives through difference and empowers self-expression. We use it to show the world who we are. Whether it’s a haircut, shirt and shoe styles, what hangs on our walls or from our ceilings, and what color we paint our door. Over time these choices develop into culture (e.g. goth) and allow us to say something about who we are individuals and what groups we connect to or identify with.
Our chosen cultures and choices will change over time. As we grow, so do our art choices.
Art communicates our journey in the world. As Ruth and I glory in, art is part of the conversation we have with each other, with you, with the world, with the artists, and with ourselves.
So important in today’s world, the book reminds us that art allows us a safe space to share dreams and emotions, and through that sharing, we create communities. And if we choose to, we can change together.
Art, as we have learned, and the book underscores, can amaze us, scare us, show us new worlds and new ways of being.
This book is why we blog – for ourselves and for you.
Discover more from Arting: Art As Conversation
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