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