Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking

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In Art and Fear, Paul Virilio traces the twin development of art and science over the twentieth century. In his provocative and challenging vision, art and science vie with each other for the destruction of the human form as we know it. He traces the connections between the way early twentieth century avant-garde artists twisted and tortured the human form before making it vanish in abstraction, and the blasting to bits of men who were no more than cannon fodder i nthe trenches of the Great War; and between the German Expressionists' hate-filled portraits of the damned, and the 'medical' experiments of the Nazi eugenicists; and between the mangled messages of global advertising, and the organisation of global terrorism. Is Virilio a strident critic out of touch with contemporary culture or is Art and Fear a deft excoriation of excess? Either way, this is a short, sharp and gripping book?' Modern Painters And while a hundred civilizations have prospered (sometimes for centuries) without computers or windmills or even the wheel, none have survived even a few generations without art.” This is a great book for ALL people, artist or not, professional or amateur. What I mean by that is, whether you want to start cooking, gardening, dancing, painting -- WHATEVER! -- it helps give you motivation to do so. I soaked up the first half of this slim guide with frequent shouts of "Yes! THIS!" and skimmed the second half with a bit of a shrug and a *meh* Isn't it odd when that happens? It's really okay, though, since I found so very much solace, empathy, and inspiration in the parts I did absorb. Things like,

I have to admit to mixed feelings about Art & Fear. I liked that it was attempting to encourage people, me, to make art despite the uncertainty involved. It recognises that creating art is different to other “jobs” in that, if you do it properly, you put yourself on display at the same time as your work. All this is good to know, but is perhaps somewhat self-evident. But the book is annoyingly full of aphorisms and a lot of them are rather banal. Take “When you act out of fear, your fears come true” as an example.pg 5 "The function of the overwhelming majority of your artwork is simply to teach you how to make the small fraction of your work that soars."

Sometimes the emotions are expressed unexpectedly or naturally arise from a directive that is not directly about feelings. For example, in “playing” with watercolors through a sensory-based activity, the client might discover that emotions are coming up in themselves or through the art. Or a prompt for a client to create a collage about family is likely to lead to an exploration of feelings that are reflected in the chosen images.

The session will provide a concise introduction to the core theme and its significance for philosophy and the arts. We’ll then break into smaller groups for a guided discussion in which participants can explore the ideas and develop their own take on them in relation to the exhibition and to contemporary events. French artist Camille Claudel also explored the subjective human experience in her work, this time in the form of sculpture. Having arrived in Paris aged 17, she was denied entry to the École des Beaux Arts which was male-only at the time. Nonetheless, she went on to become an accomplished artist. Yet viewed objectively, these fears obviously have less to do with art than they do with the artist. And even less to do with the individual artworks. After all, in making art you bring your highest skills to bear upon the materials and ideas you most care about. Art is a high calling -- fears are coincidental. I am not an artist -- I am a phony. I have nothing worth saying. I'm not sure what I'm doing. Other people are better than I am. I'm only a [student/physicist/mother/whatever]. I've never had a real exhibit. No one understands my work. No one likes my work. I'm no good. As a consequence, to quote the title of a brilliant manifesto-style essay by the Institute for Precarious Consciousness, We Are All Very Anxious. Anxiety is now the dominant emotional experience of our time, precisely for this reason: anything and everything is on show, for sale and attainable, but (for too many people) perpetually withheld, out of reach. Whereas historically people were condemned to misery or boredom, anxiety becomes pervasive in conditions where free choice is unfettered, and yet at some level illusory.