In View

What Is Art and Why Does It Matter? - "Art is everyone's story, at the same time" . . . . "Art is anything that isn't everything else, and it matters because there's more to life than everything" . . . . "Primal expression. It matters because it makes people feel like they're heard" . . . . "Art is any creation, or anything really, that expresses humanness. From the mind to the hand of the creator, art is a manifestation of authentic human interpretation. In a world where everything is relative, art is the only thing that can be accepted as truth in reality, and that is why we must be so critical in its acceptance as such" . . . . "Art is all confusing. It keeps us awake" . . . . "Art is anything done before 1950. It matters because we've lost our way" . . . . "Art is creation, imagination, recording, investigation, arbitration, and culmination. It helps define our existence and makes us less alone and frees our frustrations. Of course art matters" . . . . "Art is human expression. It matters when it makes us feel more human than we did before we experienced it." - "Looking at art can provide a much needed refuge for reflection, sympathy, quietude, inspiration, and even ecstasy in this increasingly chaotic world. Looking further can deepen knowledge of cultures and artistic practice, develop and hone observational skills, reveal insights into history that other documents can't, and encourage creative, analytical, and autonomous thinking. Art can be funny, and it can make you cry, too." - (Yale University Art Gallery)

So close, so foreign, so own, so distant - "I live in strange times, everywhere is filled with contrasts, almost simultaneously; I can see places with the highest technologies opposed places that are yet to have the most basic services, that seem to be lost in time. Thousands of intertwined social, political economic and historical reasons generate this reality."- (Leonor Solis Rojas)

Villa Montalvo -"A non-profit arts organization dedicated to advancing the appreciation of the arts and music through diverse programs. These programs - The Gallery at Montalvo, Children's Education Outreach, the internationally-recognized Artist Residency Program and Literary Arts - are supported through concert proceeds, member donations, corporate and foundation support. Situated in the foothills of California's Santa Cruz Mountains above Silicon Valley, Villa Montalvo is a Mediterranean-style villa built at the turn of the century and left as a legacy forthe support and encouragement of music, art, literature and architecture. Several miles ofnature trails trace small creeks and hillsides cover the 175-acre estate, which also serves as a public park, open free to visitors year-round."

Public Monuments and Sculpture Association - (UK) "The PMSA is a registered charity, which relies on the voluntary work of its members. Its many projects and publications are funded by subscriptions and by the generosity of a number of individuals, institutions and grant-giving bodies."

QUOTE: - "In the beginning was the three-pointed star, One smile of light across the empty face; One bough of bone across the rooting air, The substance forked that marrowed the first sun; And, burning ciphers on the round of space, Heaven and hell mixed as they spun. ~ In the beginning was the pale signature, Three-syllabled and starry as the smile; And after came the imprints on the water, Stamp of the minted face upon the moon; The blood that touched the crosstree and the grail Touched the first cloud and left a sign. ~ In the beginning was the mounting fire That set alight the weathers from a spark, A three-eyed, red-eyed spark, blunt as a flower; Life rose and spouted from the rolling seas, Burst in the roots, pumped from the earth and rock The secret oils that drive the grass. ~ In the beginning was the word, the word That from the solid bases of the light Abstracted all the letters of the void; And from the cloudy bases of the breath The word flowed up, translating to the heart First characters of birth and death. ~ In the beginning was the secret brain. The brain was celled and soldered in the thought Before the pitch was forking to a sun; Before the veins were shaking in their sieve, Blood shot and scattered to the winds of light The ribbed original of love." (Dylan Thomas)

THE WORK FEATURED ABOVE: - 'Genius of Mirth' - Thomas Crawford (ca. 1813Ü1857). Marble; 47 x 20 x 24 in. (119.4 x 50.8 x 61 cm), 1842; this version, 1843. Bequest of Annette W. W. Hicks-Lord, 1896 (97.13.1) - (Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC) . . . . . . . MUSIC: - Fugue from Bach's 'The Well-Tempered Clavier'