Art can do so much that words can't.
Without text, without words spoken or written or murmured, art can create feelings that no number of words could ever describe. Art can depict scenes of pure, unadulterated joy, and in contrast, can equally as dramatically depict suffering. Pain. Destruction. Images that make you look away with a pit in your stomach only to hesitantly look back to make sure the horrors you saw were truly real. Art is both horrifying and magical in that way.
Since the beginning of time, people have been using art to express feelings following great tragedies-losses after World War 2, the devastation, confusion, and betrayal a person feels after being raped, how death can take a toll on those still living. Artists have experimented with the ways to express these feelings, either through realistic art, painting a picture of the horrifying scenes life holds, or rather by simply creating a feeling, painting the grey so many feel in their hearts following tragedy. In the painting above, George Clausen's 1916 "Youth Morning", the figure plays off both of these ideas; realistic in her interpretation but ultimately metaphorical in the fact that she represents suffering. She is no one in particular and yet she is everyone; she is the pain that every human who has walked this earth has felt at some point and time. That's the power that art can hold.
Because pain and suffering are two incredibly significant parts of the lives of everyone, many artists have begun to come together to combine these works depicting such tragic events; to create an exhibit honoring the pain so many people have felt and thus depicted in their work. Throughout history, artists have used practically every form of media possible to express their pain; photography, journalism, painting and drawing and etching, all meant to evoke an emotion, a feeling that is almost unable to be described. By creating galleries dedicated entirely to work that depicts pain and suffering of the masses, art can perhaps become overwhelming, but this is exactly the point of these new exhibitions. Overwhelm the senses in the same way being in a painful situation does. Distract the mind from anything other than the hurt in that moment, the suffering to come. As horrifying as it sounds, art has the power to transport a person to another world, and an exhibition that focuses on art depicting the pain of life can ultimately transport a person to a horrifying place. However, art is created to make you feel, and even if that feeling isn't good, it is real. That's what I believe is the point of these galleries.
Since the beginning of time, people have been using art to express feelings following great tragedies-losses after World War 2, the devastation, confusion, and betrayal a person feels after being raped, how death can take a toll on those still living. Artists have experimented with the ways to express these feelings, either through realistic art, painting a picture of the horrifying scenes life holds, or rather by simply creating a feeling, painting the grey so many feel in their hearts following tragedy. In the painting above, George Clausen's 1916 "Youth Morning", the figure plays off both of these ideas; realistic in her interpretation but ultimately metaphorical in the fact that she represents suffering. She is no one in particular and yet she is everyone; she is the pain that every human who has walked this earth has felt at some point and time. That's the power that art can hold.
Because pain and suffering are two incredibly significant parts of the lives of everyone, many artists have begun to come together to combine these works depicting such tragic events; to create an exhibit honoring the pain so many people have felt and thus depicted in their work. Throughout history, artists have used practically every form of media possible to express their pain; photography, journalism, painting and drawing and etching, all meant to evoke an emotion, a feeling that is almost unable to be described. By creating galleries dedicated entirely to work that depicts pain and suffering of the masses, art can perhaps become overwhelming, but this is exactly the point of these new exhibitions. Overwhelm the senses in the same way being in a painful situation does. Distract the mind from anything other than the hurt in that moment, the suffering to come. As horrifying as it sounds, art has the power to transport a person to another world, and an exhibition that focuses on art depicting the pain of life can ultimately transport a person to a horrifying place. However, art is created to make you feel, and even if that feeling isn't good, it is real. That's what I believe is the point of these galleries.