Does Art Matter...?

The world sometimes looks a great place to live in when you meet people who possess amazing qualities like - desire to create a memorable & pleasant experience for others by aesthetic expression of their thoughts, willingness to give back to society, wish to pursue their true passions...! As I was checking the Yale Calendar this morning, I notice "Exploring Human Expression Through Nature" Event that intrigued my consciousness.

Anyways, as anticipated the Seminar was quite informative - Alice (Yale undergrad Student) spoke at length about the the exhibits. The most interesting part was the description which we learnt about every painting. In additon to getting awed by works of art - on canvas, on walls, on fabric, on wood, on glace paper, on grains etc th gallery guide encouraged us to make our own interpretations about the masterpieces.

All of a sudden, I feel its fun research closely about the encyclopedic works of Art. A decade ago, I used to wonder how can someone spend hours in a museum where time seems to be static....! But now looking at art - I can relate to true human emotions, human psyche, perspectives, impressions and most importantly reflections of life. By focusing on the way an ace artist depicts a some aspect of life / era, one can connect with a different world way back in time. Another observation I made was the way artists work so meticulously & patiently (some portraits took years to complete - we were told !!) - exhibits the deepest human need - the need to be heard and feel appreciated...! But its great that hundreds of years later, researchers / curators continue analyzing the masterpieces and keep on deciphering more about them. For now, here's how my mind can best describe Art as:

• A medium of expression where the individuals and culture come together
• Realisation of true self
• Way to question existing beliefs
• Creative Spark
• Visual Representation of Dreams / Experiences

Infact I have decided to get involved @ YUAG and help them in making art matter by participating in intrepretive projects, exhibits and talks. My question to all readers & friends is "Does Art Matter?" (Honest opinions pls - wish to reaffirm my belief before I get hooked in Art :)) By the way current exhibits at Yale Univ Art Gallery can be accessed right here.

Face Reading...!

One of my friends at Yale Department of Psychology is doing a course which makes one almost a master at deducing typical characteristics of people (temperament, attitude, enthusiasm level) by observing them closely for a day. Now I don't know what the inherent logic is from a psychological eprspective but then when I sit down on Saturdays to draw sketches - all my sketches are indeed based on facial expressions of characters.Which means that certainly our subconscious judges people from their face value, from their external appearance & vibes. Most of us do split second decision making and perhaps thats why we are asked to make good and lasting First Impressions in our work places & meetings. I must admit that the topic has aroused my curiosity about the way we make decisions about people we converse with...!

Let me spend some time researching more on the subject this week. By the way wikipedia refers to this thory as Physiognomy...!

Physiognomy comes from Greek physiognomonia, from physiognomon, "judging character by the features," from physis, "nature, physique, appearance" + gnomon, "one who knows, hence an examiner, a judge," from gignoskein, "to know."

Positioning...!

I am sure like me, many would have noticed the Google's home page yesterday illustrating the spirit of celebration of Sputnik's 50th Anniversary. Now, that was indeed a nice gesture from Google who keeps changing its logo on occasions like these. Interestingly, I tried drawing few analogies between Google & Sputnik - here they are:

• Sputnik changed everyone's perception about capabilities of Artificial Satellites very much like what Google did to now omnipresent Internet Search.


• Sputnik Launch displayed man's desire to dream, think and realize dreams similar to Google which was en excellent idea put into diligent practice by two passionate & confident individuals.


• Preparations in Sputnik launch proved that fine grained control on small things matter a lot for Shuttle Launch. I am sure Google manages to get us instant Search Results by ensuring excellent orchestration of both software & hardware.


• Sputnik Launch was marked by immense competition amidst US & USSR similar to the kinda competition amidst Search Engines. In man's quest to become the best, in a way this is good since it brings about the best products & inventions out there.


• Sputnik provided lots of information to the world in split second time frames. Google extracts information from almost any system wired to Internet and render the same in a pretty smart manner instantly.


• Most importantly, Sputnik provided ray of hope to many budding scientists who were working on their ideas. Likewise, everyday Google's new Product launches instills a sense of hope in minds of young Engineers / Entrepreneurs who can surely make the world a better place to live in the years to come.