Realm of I-It & I-Thou

          Art has always been a form of an escape and calming for me. Art can be perceived in a variety of different ways, ranging from just a hobby to complete a personal project, a deeper spiritual experience if you will. In Martin Buber's book I and Thou, he states the basis of It, “I perceive something.  I feel something.  I imagine something.  I want something.  I sense something.  I think something.” (54) Art has become more of state, or state of being for me over the span of my life. I perceive the blank canvas, I feel the wooden, grainy grip of the paintbrush, the thick, smooth texture of the paint, I imagine the finished product of the piece of art waiting to emerge from the canvas, and so on.

          Ever since I was little, people have told me I was good at art. They would tell me things like "never let your talents go to waste!" and "if you don't keep up with it you are going to loose your abilities!". At that point in my life, I was basically making artwork just to satisfy those people's "project"; I was not creating art for myself, just to kind of check it off a list. My relationship with art at that point was completely objective. There was no emotional connection

          Eventually coloring became drawing, drawing became painting, and it went on from there. Art according to Buber, "is the eternal origin of art that a human being confronts a form that wants to become a work through him. Not a figment of his soul but something that appears to the soul and demands the soul's creative power." (60) I am painting, this overwhelming sense of calm washes over me. Its just me, and a blank canvas, and the sense of endless possibilities. As strange as it sounds, I perceive art as a subject; a canvas demanding to be made into some sort of masterpiece, a blank canvas that wants to be created and used for some sort of project. I don't only do art for myself, I also create art for others. I make it my personal project to bring happiness to others through art. Granted, I am by no means any DaVinci or Van Gough, but my perfectionism and just overall passion for art drives me to take others into perspective making art for them and their happiness.

          As offbeat as it might seem to talk about art in this way, as an object rather than a subject, this is how I view art, as a sort of state rather than just a subjective hobby. Art is my happy place!