“Art is the only way to run away without ever leaving home” – Twyla Tharp
If food, shelter and safety is all that human beings need, then where was the need to paint beautiful pictures on the walls of the caves, jumble up the words to write poetry and make beautiful arches on their roofs. No one instructed them to do so.
Lorenzo Medici, called Medici the Magnificent, inherited a banking empire in Florence, Italy. As a banker, his job was to keep their vaults full. Contrary to the despotic beliefs his contemporaries had, Lorenzo, a benevolent tyrant, realized that the citizens of his city need to be successful for his business to be successful. This could only be achieved when the citizens were inspired. The Medici family established Platonic Academy to set a movement of Humanism in motion. Ficino, Mirandola and Politician, the three pillars of the Platonic Academy, were tasked to bring ideas that celebrated personal freedom of all and sundry. A mass deployment of Art and architecture was at the center of their ideas.
The arches and the buildings on the common streets started to get carved with artistic grandeur. Fountains on the squares became a-museum-on-the-road that the non-elites could visit. Details of the lives of Gods and Emperors started to appear on life size canvases and the audience felt intimate with them for the first time. Lifelike statues of David were inspiring the passersby to conquer their own Goliaths. The power of art not only created a big buzz in the human spirit but also in the economy. The city of Florence became the epicenter of the Renaissance movement.
Though the Renaissance movement started a century prior to the establishment of the Platonic Academy, it was Lorenzo’s vision to mass deploy the power of art to inspire an economy that made the Renaissance period an iconic period in human history.
Could the economy be restored without the art and architecture of the Renaissance movement? Probably yes. Could humanity have tasted the power of personal freedom and propel the economy as a result, without the Renaissance movement? The answer is an emphatic No. Personal freedom is taken for granted in today’s context. But it was not so in the 15th century. If not for the Renaissance movement, we might still be subservient to religious and political organizations of that time. And Art is what gave momentum to that wave
In the daily grind of making ends meet and afford a lifestyle to keep ourselves and our loved ones comfortable and safe, we may be excused for thinking of Art as a luxury. Sunday Times published the results of a survey conducted in Singapore in June 2020, where 71% of respondents said that “Artist” is the most “non-essential” job in society. Unfortunately, the same respondents, who labeled art as non-essential, were probably holding a book in their hands or listening to some melodious music or marveling at a beautiful visual on the street hoardings or talking about a web series that had captivated their hearts and minds. A bit ironic.
Art is a language of the curious mind. Curiosity is an instinct we are all born with and it can not be extinguished no matter what. It can be curbed and many establishments have done that since the times of recorded history and continue to do so.
However, curbed curiosity gives rise to unrest and upheaval and it explodes sooner or later. Suppress it for too long in a society and it erupts violently in the form of wars and genocides. Suppress it for too long in an individual and it causes breakdown at both mental and physical level.
Art is the vehicle that supplies us with a daily nutrition of inspiration. Lorenzo Medici realized that six centuries ago. You can try it for yourself. Next time, you feel the drudgery at the end of a hard day’s work, pick up a pen or a brush or a camera and pour your heart out on your canvas. Join the elite club of poets, painters and other artists and let the world of art weave its magic on you.
