I don't like it!

Piet Mondriaan | 1930 | Composition in Red, Blue and Yellow | without education, you would not know that this is originally a tree | this is the final product of a reduction to the bare primary colors

If you don’t learn about art, you won’t understand art

This administration does not see the benefit of art education for our children. It also does not see the point of funding art projects. In 2018, Trump started to reduce the funding which will effectively close the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. This will not just have catastrophic consequences for the art world, but also for the business world. Thankfully, Congress has rejected that plan last year and hopefully, they will again in 2019. I am suspecting that our president does not like or understand the importance of art, and he clearly wants to spend the saved money elsewhere. Art is not just what you see in a museum or hear on the radio. Art is the basis of everything we do, see, and touch.

Mark Rothko | 1953 |  without education, you would not know that Rothko's paintings are originally landscapes which he reduced to the minimum color fields. These paintings originally had people in them too. His philosophies stem from the minimalistic zeitgeist of the early 20th century.

Art is all around is. When we mention the word, we immediately think of the various creative products of the visual, audio, and performance art disciplines. And the evidence is abundantly present. Art is the basis of that chair you are sitting on, that mug you’re holding, and even the machine that beverage came out of. Designs were made by artists before the creation of every car, presentation of every haute cuisine dish, and performance of every Olympic athlete. Various industry markets will feel the effects of the lack of creative input not too long after the approval of such countdowns. Robert Lynch, president and CEO of the Americans for the Arts, says that we should invest in the arts because it has a tremendous impact on our culture and economy. You name it, somewhere in the process of creating the world as we know it, art and design will have played a part. Art shaped cultures and cultures shape art. This makes it also of importance in history and therefore economy and politics. This is only one of the reasons it is so important to have a foundation of knowledge in art.

Really, anybody should learn to appreciate art. There is more to art than just its appearance. Especially in contemporary art, we need to know more about the context because without knowing a little about the background, the reason or purpose, the artist, the milieu, and the time period, the images would all be meaningless. Art history lessons will teach a person why a certain work of art was made. It can tell us whether it was pure documentation of life at the time, political commentary, or socio-economic criticism. It can then be related to modern times and important lessons can be deducted. Art history and appreciation will also teach about other cultures and their beliefs, generating more understanding and respect for other populations in the globalization of our world.

The reductive sequence of many of Mondriaan's works

But the best advantage is that we can have more meaningful conversations because we will be able to “hear” what a visual artist may not be able to express in words. Lessons in appreciating art improve communication skills. Communication through visual expression is ingrained in our DNA. Creating art hands-on is even better and certainly the most fun part of it. Nobody, however, needs to become a celebrated and accomplished artist. The least we can do is to learn through art history lessons what motivated people to create the work we initially didn’t like and dismissed. We can only appreciate art through understanding. Understanding can only come from education, and with a different perspective on art, maybe we can actually like artistic works for their intrinsic value. Maybe our president should sign up for a few classes…

https://www.americansforthearts.org/news-room/arts-mobilization-center/national-endowment-for-the-arts-update-trump-fy2018-budget-proposal-calls-for-elimination-of-nea