It’s unfortunate that the word art has fallen into its
present use, for it is now very far away from its original
meaning.
Currently, it is a blanket label covering all sorts of
products, and activities, glorifying the creative and
imaginative talents of certain individuals.
Initially, however, it was pointing to the fundamental
movement of existence and to an essential freedom and
joy that can be found there.
If we explore its roots in the Proto-Indo-European
language, it comes from the suffixed morpheme ar(?)-ti-
which is the source of the Sanskrit rtih meaning “manner or mode”.
Its root morpheme, ar, means “to fit together” (to come
together).
It is also closely related to the Sanskrit word Rt, or Rta,
which is a reference to cosmic order, the fact that the
universe is a dynamic, flowing process moving to its own
inherent order.
Combining these various nuances, we find that the
general meaning of the word art was originally “the
manner or mode of coming together in cosmic order”, or
more simply “living as the movement (the flow) of the
cosmos.”
It’s very striking that now, 6,000 years later, the general
public doesn’t know this meaning of the word, even
though many artists have repeatedly expressed this
meaning whenever they have described their own work
process.
Man is an instrument of nature [cosmic order] Picasso “The
current of the river of life [the flow of the cosmos] moves
us.” Agnes Martin “Art is a kind of inner current in a human
being.” Marcel Duchamp
“My paintings are not my paintings.” “Your expression is
not your decision. Prior to your expression is the urge
[the current, the force] that dictates your expression.”
Agnes Martin “You feel that some force [an urge] is
commanding you to do certain things, to accept only
certain things.” Philip Guston “The error is in thinking that we
play a part in directing this process [this urge, this
force].” Agnes Martin
“Truth and reality in art begin at the point where the
artist ceases to understand what he is doing – yet feels in
himself a force that becomes steadily stronger and more
concentrated.” Henri Matisse “Creation is a force … and
everybody has that force.” Philip Guston “No translation can
express the mysterious sensibility [the force, the urge]
which is the basis of painting or poetry [or any other
human expression].” Marcel Duchamp
“What I’m trying to express is woven into the very fibre
of my being.” Cezanne “We are born to do certain things
and we are born to fill a certain need.” Agnes Martin “The
inner desire [the need, the urge] for expression cannot
be precisely calculated.” Wassily Kandinsky “I paint what I
need to experience.” “At every step I question. Is it what
I need to feel, to see?” “The only standard is my need in
that moment.” Philip Guston
“You paint because you have to.” “You have to make
something that you find interesting, that you find
exciting.” “Let’s say, [for example] at some point, I can
only make a white line.” “I don’t know why.” “It just feels
good.” “If things feel right, they feel right.” “I’m like a
blind man just feeling my way through.” “I don’t have
control over the process.” Stanley Whitney “You do what
comes to you [what feels right].” “You can’t get away
from what you have to do.” Agnes Martin
“I don’t believe in the creative function of the artist. He’s
a man [an ordinary man] like any other.” Marcel Duchamp
“We are born to do certain things and we are born to fill
a certain need.” “If you are supposed to be a painter, you
will certainly be one. If you are supposed to be
something else, you will be something else.” Agnes Martin
“Art is the opportunity [the permission] to be truly
individual [truly unique] in one’s expression.” Marcel
Duchamp “There is no sameness anywhere, no two rocks
are alike, no two days, no two moments, no two people.”
“No one knows what your life should be, because it is in
the process of being created.” Agnes Martin “I’m just feeling
my way through.” Stanley Whitney” “Each breath is a work [of
art]” Marcel Duchamp
The word ART originally referred to a way of living. It
meant living as the movement of the cosmos, moving to
cosmic order. It meant feeling out, and living to, the
natural order that is “woven into the very fibre of your
being”, feeling free to be the unique expression that you are.
To live as the movement of the cosmos was what it
meant to be an artist.
It had nothing to do with a particular product. It had
nothing to do with a particular expression. The natural
expression of existence is endlessly diverse, endlessly
different.
“The most interesting thing about artists is how they
live.” “Art is the opportunity [the permission] to be truly
individual [truly different] in one’s expression.” “My art is
living … each breath is a work [of art] … a kind of
constant euphoria” Marcel Duchamp
From this perspective, everything in ordinary life is a
work of art … a breath, a gesture, a sound, an object, a
relationship, a career, as well as everything else. It is
something to be deeply felt, feeling whether it feels
right, and following what it is that you need to be, need
to do, and need to experience. It’s the joy of living freely
as the unique expression that you are.
From this perspective everyone’s life is the movement of
cosmic order, whether they realise it or not.
Artists however, in the oldest meaning of the word, live
as that movement. ART is the manner or mode of living
as the movement of the cosmos.
“The painter has the Universe [the cosmos] in his head
and hands.” Leonardo Da Vinci “Man is an instrument of
nature [the cosmos]” Picasso “I am nature [the cosmos].”
Jackson Pollack. “There is only the All of All [nature, the
cosmos].” “Everything is that.” Agnes Martin
Unfortunately … these days … most people think art is an
object on a wall.
The nouns and pronouns used in the above quotes come from a
time when the word “man” was used as a general reference to
“personkind”. When you read these quotes, please use the nouns
and pronouns that work for you.
Many thanks to Lynn Minnick and Marcus Fellowes for their feedback in
the production of this article.
Sources
Agnes Martin quotes from Agnes Martin: Painting, Writings,
Remembrances. Arnie Glimcher (author), published by Phaidon Press,
2021
Cezanne quote from Paul Cézanne: Letters. edited by John Rewald,
published by Bruno Cassirer, 1946
Jackson Pollack quote from the Oral history interview with Lee Krasner,
1964 Nov. 2–1968 Apr. 11 (Archives of American Art, Smithsonian
Institution)
Leonardo Da Vinci quote from his work, A Treatise on Painting.
Marcel Duchamp quotes from three sources:
ARTnews article, Francis Roberts, “I Propose to Strain the Laws of
Physics,” ARTnews, vol. 62, no. 4 (Summer 1963)
Dialogues with Marcel Duchamp. Pierre Cabanne, Viking Press, 1971
The Writings of Marcel Duchamp. Sanouillet and Peterson (editors), Da
Capo Press, 1989
Matisse quote from exhibition catalogue, Hayward Gallery, Arts Council
of Great Britain (1968). “Matisse: 1869-1954. A retrospective
exhibition”
Philip Guston quotes from Philip Guston: Collected Writings, Lectures,
and Conversations (Documents of Twentieth-Century Art). by Philip
Guston and Clark Coolidge, University of California Press, 2010
Picasso quote from “Futurism”. edited by Didier Ottinger, Centre
Pompidou / 5 Continents Editions, Milan, 2008.
Stanley Whitney quotes from two online lectures by Stanley Whitney
School of Visual Arts, Feb 7, 2014, Stanley Whitney – Painter ,
YouTube,
Stanley Whitney – Painter – YouTube
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Sep 3, 2021, Artists on Artists:
Stanley Whitney on Joan Mitchell’s Fearless Career and the Drama of
Painting , YouTube,
Artists on Artists: Stanley Whitney on Joan Mitchell’s Fearless Career and the Drama of Painting
Wassily Kandinsky quote from his book, Concerning the Spiritual in Art.
M. T. H. Sadler (Translator), Dover Fine Art, History of Art, 1977