Looking, really looking, at art (some might say seeing, some might say feeling) is like this: It is like all the other really amazing things in life. (You know what they are. Everyone has their own. Though, really, there are few things that are exceptionally amazing. This is one of those things.)…
Sara’s distilled, for visual art, one of the things I really love about listening to music. There is, of course, a lot of painfully bad or formulaic music in the world, and we’re exposed to it daily. But occasionally, you find a performance that you can really get lost inside, and that music—whose performance frequently stems from a collection of dots on paper—becomes a palace of emotion and meaning.
There are performances I have listened to on a regular basis for nearly twenty years now, and my comprehension of those performances has grown more detailed and sophisticated with time, as if I were approaching it from a distance. With that increasing focus and detail comes a better understanding of myself, and of the enduring power of expression. When I studied voice in college, I found an incredible reward in the process of unlocking the performance behind the printed score; it seemed like a secret only trained musicians could discover. I’ve spent the rest of my life coming to realize that music (like art) holds that secret for all parties involved: artists, composers, performers, readers, viewers, and listeners alike.
It reminds me always to try to discover art, and to wade through the stuff that seems lifeless, trying to find the expressions that make you feel alive.
