Another Smile...?

Take a moment to think. What makes you happy?

Before we go any further though, what is happiness? Is it as simple as a feeling? or is it a core essential part of life?

Consider this.  What would life be without happiness? It would be rather bland no? everything would be grey, dim, unbearable, not unlike Post-War Europe.  Hold that thought.

Imagine life without art. Take out all the art in life. No music, no films, no dancing, no colour.  No love, no beauty, no nature no flowers.  Rather similar ay? Therefore, I believe happiness is linked to art.  Without art there is no happiness, and without happiness there is no life.

Take a step back, let me tell you a story.  The most remarkable piece of music of all time was written by the composer Olivier Messiaen.  It was called the Quartet for the End of Time, performed in 1941 to prisoners in a German Concentration Camp.  Messiaen himself was a prisoner there, and composed the piece during his time there.  Why on earth would someone have the time and energy to write music when in a concentration camp? From what historians have told us, conditions were atrocious, it was barely enough to survive by trying to avoid torture and hunger, yet from these camps we have discovered the most amazing poetry, writings, music. Why? it must be concluded that in a camp, where people are stripped of all hope but just survival, NEEDED the art to survive.  The people had no recreation, had no food, had no habitable conditions, yet they had art. Art is part of survival, art is full of meaning, art is a way of saying "I am alive, I can survive, I am still me".

On 31st of March 2010, i received a phone call in the middle of the day, informing me that someone close to me had passed on through personal means.  I was shattered i had no idea what to do.  I didnt sleep for a week, i sat in my room staring at walls, I was a shell of my extroverted self.  The world around me was slowly turning more grey, swirling around, spiralling down into a chasm of darkness.  I thought taking a step away from everything would help.  I stopped practising piano, i could not listen to music, I didnt watch any films.  on 18 May however, by force of habit, i was drawn towards my piano, lifted the lid and sat down.  I sat there and thought, why am i here? has life got any purpose? if something could be extinguished as quickly as a phone call, what is the point of these hours of playing?

moving away from the piano, i needed calming.  I turned on my cd player, and by chance, Beethoven's Emperor Concerto was inside.  Without thought i hit play, and my entire study was filled with the glorious sounds of the slow movement.  As the passion in the andante tempo built to the climax, i realised all the pain i had bottled up over the past two months had been released.  I stepped back to the piano and slowly began to rebuild my technique.  Each movement of the fingers up and down the piano was a droplet of hurt flicking off.  at that moment i realised what was missing from my life...art.  Music entered my life again, and i realised the importance of it to survival.  Art is not just a part of the "entertainment" section of the Daily Telegraph, rather it is an essential part to numbing pain and hoping for the best in the future.

Some of you will say "but i can't play music" or "i can't write" or "i can't draw". It doesnt matter. there is no such thing as i can't.  it is the way we approach life that defines who we are, not what we achieve.  It is in our approach that we can incorporate art.  Art is something that stimulates thoughts, emotions and ideas.  It is an idea that fosters within us and can take any form and serve any purpose.  Art is a way of expressing our emotions, and displaying our understanding of the world, from something as simple as a hug to constructing a skyscraper in New York City.  Art is a learning and teaching process, it is a part of every day human life, as it is in human nature to be creative.

The reason why everyone conveys feelings through art is that there are no boundaries. Artists hold the freedom of expression, and viewers have the liberty to interpret it in any way for them.  Many people dislike the influence of pop culture on modern art.  However, contemporary art really is people trying to construct a balance between expression and entertainment.  The artwork itself is a meeting of spectator and creator.  The audience is just as much a part of the creation as the artist.

Therefore, we return to the beginning.  Why is happiness and art related? happiness is required to sustain our lives, and art is what can provide healing and recovery.  Art is not just a luxury, but an essential part of everyday life.  It is the way that we can represent our interpretation of the environment, and communicate with one another in a unified language that everyone can understand.  And with understanding, comes belief.  With belief comes emotion. and with emotion, we can branch our happiness, and through happiness we can create an artwork for another person to understand themselves, each other, and the world around us.

Trevz