What is Art?

Nathan and I decided to spend our date night at Crocker Art Museum. There was a neat display of African art and artifacts. We also really enjoyed artwork of California. We took a few pictures next to a few we liked best.

Art is supposed to evoke emotion right?? Well, it did. Unfortunately, only about a third to a half of the artwork brought emotions that were uplifting or inspiring. (That doesn't mean that everything depicted needed to be happy subject matter...) We were disappointed to find that much of the artwork was disturbing and gross. It seems like artists are trying to shock us into noticing them. We did notice--we didn't appreciate. We will try to forget. What a waste of talent. I think it was similar to watching "reality TV". There really is no reality in it, just a lot of people fighting for attention. I really felt bad for all of the artists who had something worth sharing, but might have been passed by for something so degrading.

The next weekend we went on another artistic venture. This time to a free play. Our stake put on The Savior of the World, a musical production about those surrounding the events of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The performers were not professional. They didn't hit every note perfectly, they weren't all trained in stage performance. But Nathan and I were totally moved by the humility of their performance (especially from Thomas). Their depictions seemed true to life. The disciples of Christ were imperfect men and women. The Spirit was there. It was like missionary work. The Lord sends out imperfect 19-year-olds. But through His Spirit people become converted to the message of Jesus Christ. We left feeling so uplifted. We were inspired and my tears came. The play was art on an entirely different level.