visiting the zoo -- art in a museum

The difference between seeing art in the museum and art in someone’s home is similar to the difference between seeing wild animals at the zoo or roaming free, lions in an artificial habitat vs squirrels in the backyard. One informs the other, and it’s not difficult to imagine the caged cat would trade its fangs to be like the squirrel, living its authentic life. The art museum is also an instructional institution and should cover the gamut of what can be done with paint from the gothic up through the sudden rise of the renaissance, witness to rationality displacing the medieval mind, and forward to the non-objective irrationality of modern times. Drifting through the galleries it’s possible to let the gravity of your own interest guide you to the period and the style that most speaks to you.

This is information to take home and to look for among the artists who paint in your area. Anywhere up on a wall is the authentic home of art where it can participate in family life and recount it all years later when you’re old. Finding the appropriate art for your outlook and lifestyle is an automatic process and doesn’t require special knowledge. Just look at all the art you come across until a painting looks back at you, an eerie feeling at first and almost always a surprise. The piece you finally buy may or may not be tame, depends on the artist, but it’s probably willing to make friends for just a little attention now and then.

It will be a sad world when all of the wild animals have gone extinct except those bred in captivity, and when all the art worth having has been hung in museums. It’s good to remember that Rembrandt wouldn’t be happy in your humble house, and worth more than the entire neighborhood who could sleep at night, but the painting that was made in spite of having a full-time job just a few miles away could have just as much to say, maybe more, to someone like you.

There are three parties necessary for the practice of art. There are those who make it, those who buy and own it, and third are the fair-minded brokers who facilitate the exchange. Everyone else, all the administrators and experts along with the million dollar charade of stupidly extravagant wealth, aren’t really required. Somehow they’ve wedged themselves between the direct and universal expression of visual art and the appetite of average people for human connection and individual aspiration. Art as a vital component of daily living belongs up on the wall in houses where it can influence the lives of everyday people, and make the entire community more pleasant for everyone.