What is art? How does one appreciate it?

What is art? How does one appreciate it?

Starting this week, Prof. David Kwo, a student of the late
master Chinese painter Qi Bai-Shi, will write a column for The
Arts page of the Sunday edition of The Jakarta Post. Born in
Beijing in 1919, under the name Dai Wei Kwo, he obtained his Ph.D
in art from New York University in 1977. Prof. Kwo has since
taught at over 100 universities and colleges including at Harvard
and Yale, and in Chicago, Bonn, Leeds, Singapore, Hong Kong,
Taiwan and China. Prof. Kwo has lectured extensively on Chinese
painting, design, drawing, the history of contemporary art, the
history of Chinese art, lithography, sculpture, watercolors and
woodcuts. He has conducted demonstrations and interviews on a
number of television and radio programs, including for the BBC
and NBC. To date he has conducted 60 solo shows in various
museums, institutions and art galleries, including H.M. de Young
Memorial Museum in San Francisco, The Art Institute of Chicago,
and the London Walker Art Gallery. His works are permanently
housed in a number of art centers, mainly the Museum of Fine Arts
in Boston, and the Museum of Oriental Art in Koln, Germany. He
has published various articles and a book, Chinese Brush -- Its
History, Aesthetics and Techniques (published by Allen & Schram,
Montclair, New Jersey, George Prior, London). Through his column
"Letter to My Friends/Art Lovers", Prof. Kwo wishes to share his
thoughts and knowledge about art. The new column is also very
timely given increasing public interest in the visual arts. Many
Indonesians have started to collect paintings, both as art
objects and as investments. However, it is also a fact that many
Indonesians still need to learn how to appreciate art. Through
his columns Prof. Kwo hopes to help people understand paintings
and how to differentiate between those of good and bad quality.

Dear friends,

If I asked anyone on the streets of Shanghai, Singapore or
Malaysia "What is art?", I am sure few would be able to answer
the simple question.

Friends, if you do not know what is art, please don't feel
bad. This is not your fault. In the Far East, students lack art
education and art appreciation. For instance, for most of China's
5000 glorious years of history it was at war or suffering a
famine. Aside from the relatively short period ruled by Chen Kuan
emperor in Tang Dynasty (7th century A.D.), when ordinary people
lived a few years in peace, most of the time the Chinese
struggled just to live. When people are fighting to stay alive,
who cares about art?.

Of course the Chinese did have some art, like the harp, chess,
calligraphy and painting, to amuse themselves. But these
enjoyments could only be afforded by rich merchants and
aristocrats, not commoners. When westerners meet, they usually
greet each other with: "What a lovely day" while Chinese usually
greet each other with "Have you eaten yet?" No one is interested
in art when their stomach is empty.

Is it difficult to learn about art? Not necessarily. I think
everyone in the world is an artist to a certain degree. Why?
Everyone has their individual fondness for form, shape and color
-- we all have our own taste in clothes, furniture and home
decoration.

Ancient Greek philosophers judged art's excellence mainly on
practicality and decency. For example, Socrates believed that a
beautiful object must be useful and practical. Much later, when
mass-produced items supplied society's daily necessities,
societies changed from realism to more mysterious romanticism.
This is reflected in painting. Impressionism hit by the 19th
century, spawning many new schools of art in the 20th century.

Simply put, art, I think, is the creation and expression of
personality and reasoning. For instance, a rock on the roadside
is beautiful both in color and form, but it is not art -- it is
simply a natural object. However, if you bring the rock home an
make it into a sculpture through your own personality and
reasonable judgment, it automatically become a piece of art.

Art is created through architecture, sculpture, painting,
literature, poetry, music, dance, drama, film and photography.
Besides all these mediums, computer graphics now shows
prominently on television and in advertising -- this might be
another form of art.

That is all for now.

-- Dai Wei Kwo