A few Considerations about Art

In earlier times the purpose of art – of visual arts – was to express some thoughts, to convey knowledge by moving the world of emotions, by stirring man’s feelings towards something above the ordinary reality. Inevitably, every true work of art lies both on a horizontal scale, as an expression of the time and context in which it comes to light, and on a vertical scale, as an expression of some essence which makes it eternal and able to speak to the human beings of all times.

The whole art of the past was, and still is, an evidence of this fact. A deep knowledge is shrouded in ancient art: we can only marvel at the sight of the splendour and the elevation of some works, and the instant we wonder, a timeless, suspended communication takes place between the work of art and our innermost being. When art is sensitive to life’s sacredness and to the mystery which is shrouded in every human being, then it is able to express and to convey, through the beauty of a work, that harmony of shapes and colours which is a reflection of universal order.

From the artistic standpoint, the creative act (with the exception of the highest kind of sacred art, i.e. the painting of icons, where the purpose is not creation, but revelation, that is to say to unveil the spiritual reality), like all Traditions, points to a pathway that winds from chaos to order – cosmos –, from undifferentiated matter to a balance of forms and a harmony of colours (mathematical rules and numerical ratios sustain ideal proportions and harmonious shapes) and feeling (i.e. the emotional sensitivity and intelligence), within the mystery of artistic creation, is the intermediary between the archetype, or the idea, and its visible form, its sensible representation, thus carrying out a synthesis of form and substance in the work of art. And as the evocative power of image can indeed be commanding, a painting reaches its true purpose only when it is able to lead the viewer beyond what can be perceived by mere senses, for this is the deepest meaning of beauty in art.

There are various levels of art, with their corresponding levels of enjoyment: from a “carnal” art, in which we sense, so to say, the density of matter, to the pure esthetical pleasure that we experience at the sight of a naturalistic representation of reality, to a more symbolic and inner art which is food for the soul and which lets another order of reality shine through, until it ontologically turns into that same reality, as it happens in the metaphysical world of icon, which is a real theophany.

There are various levels of art, with their corresponding levels of enjoyment: from a “carnal” art, in which we sense, so to say, the density of matter, to the pure esthetical pleasure that we experience at the sight of a naturalistic representation of reality, to a more symbolic and inner art which is food for the soul and which lets another order of reality shine through, until it ontologically turns into that same reality, as it happens in the metaphysical world of icon, which is a real theophany.

In all times art carried prophetic signs, thus grasping and foreseeing all those changes and renewals that, when they are not an end in themselves, turn out to be a ferment, a way out of the crystallizations and formalisms inherent in the nature of things; and yet, beyond all changes and evolutionary processes of form, art will hold to its deepest vocation, i.e. to its metaphysical vocation, if it keeps its ability to speak to man’s heart of hearts.
The great art of past times has touched my soul very deeply and this is the art I ideally like to refer to.