Opinion

Visual art is a commentary on our world today

As autumn gives way to a gentle winter sun, there will be a number of events across Oman to showcase human imagination, creativity, and innovation.

This is often in the form of art exhibitions which reflect the changing perceptions of our world.

Visual art in the form of paintings is an ancient tradition, going back as far as pre-historic cave paintings. However, on its own, art is now being seen as an indulgence, a hobby in which very few can participate as it cannot become a profession.

Majoring in arts is viewed as the choice of the very few privileged who do not have to make a living. However, can art become something more evocative and useful?

Writing for Time magazine, Ava Duverney says of a world wrapped in negativity: “When it’s all just too much to organise in our heads, art calls to the optimism within us and beckons us to breathe”.

In every way possible, art is a symbol of hope, but also a way to comment on our present world and bear testimony.

Art is a reflection of our thoughts, our desires, and ourselves. It can convey a feeling or critique society, comment on a moment in history, or signal a moment from the past. Art preserves history, not through exhaustive documentation, but creatively.

Picasso’s famous painting ‘Guernica’ exposed the horrors of war more powerfully than any news article and became a single-source argument against war.

Art holds up a mirror to society. It reflects our fears and hopes in a way that does not need words or language. It is thus a more universal medium that can be shared across all cultures, without the barrier of language.

Whether it is migration, climate change, the role of women, or the intertwining of painting with technology, art today is a robust and active form of communication.

Bansky, the famous artist who is only known by this pseudonym, is known for crisp and sharp drawings, most of which criticise consumerism and other topical events.

One of the most interesting experiments in art is the connections being made with the digital world. Although photography was once seen as announcing the end of painting, art has combined technology with creativity to make a completely new medium that uses both techniques. Capturing this moment of experimentation in the world of art will enable future artists to build on this form.

In Oman, artists are constantly extending the boundaries of their art, including different forms of photography, installations, and graphic, and poster formats. All of these point to ways in which young artists are looking at their world, full of possibilities and opportunities.

Essentially, art showcases our world and our concerns which are exciting and disturbing at the same time.

To be successful, art must say something to its audience, or show us new ways of looking at old realities. When all the sound and fury dies down, it is to art and artists that we turn to understand our complex world.