A beautifully written piece from over the weekend in the Guardian. link
The artist Antony Gormley asks the question that all artists should be asking themselves. What now is the purpose of art in our contemporary world? What can the artist do to remain relevant in a post-everything world where the fundamental issue of the sustainability of our planet is so powerful as to seemingly derogate more esoteric concerns of transcendental beauty? And yet it is these more esoteric and sublime notions that tie us so firmly to the natural world and to our human nature and that may hold the key to an escape from our lamentable path towards global calamity.
It is through art that we communicate what it feels like to be alive. When you ask “what is the point of art?” you could reformulate the question to “what is the point of human beings?” […] What I am asking for is a reassessment of what art is and how it works. I am questioning the linear trajectory of art history as part of western development, recognising that all art exists in the sense of a continuous present. […] How do I justify the work and life of my studio, with its 10,000 square feet of heated space and my 17 assistants?
