Art is Life

Madonna of the Carnation by Da Vinci

Art is very expensive and a serious business, because it is rare. Rare things come with some unusualness and have an air of extremity, and often, these attributes become the outstanding features of the said art. I am convinced beyond doubts that, no one can actually replicate a creative art without using the original one as a guide or a format, even though, I stand to be corrected.

Artists become so competent in their chosen field with time and practice, empowered by passionate desire to create out of the vacuum. They go within themselves to conjure images, breathe life into them by applying effort and skill to bring the conceived images to reality. The subconscious mind with time, then becomes accustomed to their creative instincts, which in tend make them create with less effort and make their arts an almost perfect one but, no two arts can be the same.

You can only have two ‘Madonna’ paintings and that of the ‘Universal Man’ or that of ‘the last supper’, – the first, always being a guide to the other, and neither can two people create the same piece of art. Even God in his own infinite wisdom has not been able to create twins to look entirely and absolutely the same, how much more, an infallible man. There’s always bound to be a difference when you look harder. 

The rarity of arts is what has informed its collection on the part of those who can actually afford and take care of them through the ages. Just like a vintage wine, the more a good art ages through the years, the more expensive it becomes. We would at least agree on the fact that antiques costs more than boutiques. It is also expensive because, it’s not like, you can get the same piece elsewhere. These and more other reasons is why, art is so cherished by those who understands what it really means and what it actually is. You would even wonder why people go crazy over arts, or the authors of the said arts that eventually becomes an object of their obsession.

Just in case, you are not drawn into my argument yet, art covers all aspects of our life and without it, our life would be very, very mechanical and maybe, lifeless. It is rightfully so, because, art among other things includes painting, sculpture, printmaking such as clothing and textiles, photography, Music, theatre, film, dance, architecture, literature and other forms of performing arts.

Art helps us to relax our minds. They take us on endless journeys and usually promises fun, as the mind revolves around the creative piece, until it is finally absorbed into it. Art is magic, it even has the ability to make us forget about our own very existence, as it takes us through different realms and its related experiences, but I beg to differ that, the kind of arts some people in the Ghana Music Industry is churning out is rather throwing our minds into turmoil instead of soothing them.

A good artist should have a very bottomless depth of creative ideas but the Ghana Music Artistes lacks this. Maybe, my opinion doesn’t matter, but I would like to say, I love the arts and have an impeccable taste when it comes to choosing my pieces. Even though I don’t know what inform my choices, they tend to stand out in the long run. 

The Artistes in the industry may not necessarily be doing exceptionally well, but they get most of their acts right and would be pardoned, because they are well vexed with the rudiments which comes after very long years of practice but the least said about the musicians the better. 

As relative as truth may be, it still must be voiced out without fear or favor that, some of the current crop of musicians parading our stages are bereft of ideas and must sit up, if they really want to take their career interest to a different level. 

How creative are you, if only one or two songs on your album become popular with the people for only two months? How long can you actually sustain the interest of your audience with your nine unpopular and two popular songs? How creative are you, if you go into oblivion after dropping some three singles and never to make a recording anymore and still walk around calling yourself a Musician?

I am usually quick to recommend them for their efforts, but Arts go beyond efforts. Arts is inspired from within by stimuli from without so when you venture into by an inspiration from without, it will evaporate into thin air and leave you clueless, which is what is happening to most of the Artists in the industry. Nobody gets paid to do or create Arts, they only get paid for doing it, so money should not even be the motivation, lest, you will stop when it starts trickling in.

Artists should take their time and create from the wide range of what the environment has to offer because, there is enough to be created by everyone, and society must be ready to reject works that are shambolic and in the same vein, praise and support creative pieces that beholds the eye, for it is the only way, the artists can be sustained in what they do. 

Disc Jockeys have to be ethical by politely advising these artists to put in more work and make refined arts that would outlast them, rather than taking payola from them, which is eventually killing the industry. It is even informing the reason why most parents are not encouraging their children to go into the arts industry, specifically Music.

And to conclude my article, we all have to make it a point to get what we deserve, by indulging the Artists to think outside the box -- the only guaranteed way to make them create out of this world.