tattoos, Bob Ross, and art-as-life

Last night’s meeting of The Artist’s Bookshelf provided enough stimulating conversation to provoke a head full of spinning thoughts. UsingNew York Times critic Michael Kimmelman’s newest tome”The Accidental Masterpiece” as our starting point, we ventured forth into the potentially heady waters of aesthetic theory to cover a wide and curious array of topics ranging from tattoos (some of us admitted having them, though, thankfully,allremained hidden from public view) to the mesmerizing appeal of schlock-master TV painting guru Bob Ross.

We wasted no time in getting down to the BIG questions: What is art? Does art need an audience? Is process more important than product? Is communication more important than expression? Must art have a function?

We came up with few absolutes, but many intriguing postulates, and in theend, generally agreed with Mr. Kimmelman’s wise words:

“–art provides us with clues about how to live our own lives more fully.”

Amen.