Thoughts on a possible misunderstanding

This year I was invited to serve as a guest judge for the seventh “artESB” exhibition, which was a great honour for me.

It was exciting to see which of the artworks immediately appealed to the jury and which did not. I myself was looking for works that, among other things, showed a certain expressiveness. When reviewing the works for “artESB”, one (perhaps unconsciously) asks oneself: Was this picture painted by a person with limitations? Would this work then also be somehow “limited”?

Is there such a thing as limited art?

It is clear that there are limitations, such as the medium, the format of the artwork! The paper, the canvas is finite, limited, restricted. Everyone who wants to make art has to live with this limitation. This form of restriction is what makes art possible in the first place. It is a praise of boundaries, we need to know where our artificial world begins and ends.

But what about the limitations and restrictions of the artist? Do people in need of support do anything differently when they express themselves artistically? No, they show their experiences of the world in color, form and movement in exactly the same way! Therefore, with regard to art, the distinction between people with and without limitations is worthless, superfluous and meaningless.

One – for me – non-negotiable basic premise of art is:

Art is made by people for people,

i.e. everyone can create works of art! No matter what your challenges may be, you are a human being – that is enough! We all have an artistic power within us, just as we have the power of movement and the power of speech within us. But that does not mean that everyone is an artist. An artist is someone who creates works of art. But we all have and need to make forms – life forms. And for that we need our artistic power.

From Plotin (died 270 AD in Rome, founder of Neoplatonism) comes the following sentence, which I quote freely here: “If the eye were not solar, how could it see the sun?”

Here it becomes clear that only the familiar can relate to the familiar. You don't have a computer in your body? No camera? But what you, what we all have, is the power to create something, the power of art. There is culinary art, equestrian art, the art of education, the art of writing, the art of poetry – and the art of painting. 

I can only repeat myself: ART is made by PEOPLE for people.

Therefore, a work made by a machine cannot be art.

We cannot relate to a machine because we do not have a machine inside us.

So-called “artworks” made by machines, “digital art”, are usually “mechanically perfect”, with smooth edges. They do not stimulate our imagination and curiosity. They are just finished. But we humans are never finished – and by that I mean we are all imperfect. We all need to constantly develop. Just think of what happens during puberty or menopause! That is the movement of life. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said, “In the moving is the living, the become is dead.”

On the other hand, the handmade, with its slightly irregular lines, attracts our attention. It reminds us of ourselves and our imperfection. This is why humans are not defective beings, as is often claimed, but rather beings that strive for development. No matter how many limitations we have, we are not a repair shop.

It is not uncommon for artists to want to shake us awake through shock in their work. They want to draw attention to injustices in the world. Shock experiences between the viewer and the work are wrong because they hinder the freedom of the viewer through coercion arising from the shock experience. You as a viewer of these works must be free, just like the artists who created the works in freedom.

Disturbing images attract our attention: shock! But that does not mean that they are works of art. Wanting to shock people through art is the classic aesthetic sin, in which people are misused for a purpose. Negative news always attracts more attention than positive news because it is imposed on us. We don't have to do anything. To create beauty, to be positive, we have to go against gravity, against our natural comfort, and become ACTIVE. Art has the ability to give form to the ugly, the terrible, and thereby enable us to look at it and clarify it for ourselves.

I have a few examples here:

We can look at Max Beckmann's painting even though it is about the dead and reflect on our position in relation to this event.

Source: Wikiart.org

Otto Dix shows us the whole terrible truth of war. But in such a way that we can look at it and think about it for ourselves.

Source: reddit.com

The Isenheim Altarpiece in Colmar by Matthias Grünewald speaks of the loneliness of death.

Sourcd: Wikipedia.org

I had to paint my Lamentation “Over the Dead Christ” when priests in northern Italy were dying of Corona because they had been infected by Corona patients while anointing the last rites.

© Sibylle Laubscher

Martin Heidegger, philosopher (1889 - 1976) said: “Small art only changes the form of what we know, great art opens our eyes to what we have never seen.”

Great art arises from the search for knowledge.

Paul Cezanne was always looking for the space in which the viewer can find himself in the picture. He was looking for ‘réalisation’! By this he meant the final completion of the work by the viewer. For Cezanne, the viewer should also be a blank space in which everything the viewer remembers should be forgotten before looking at a work of art.

Paul Cezanne Mont Saint Victoire, source: smarthistory.org

Wassily Kandinsky thought about a great many things, for example how painting can develop in abstraction, among other things in the almanac “Der Blaue Reiter”.

Wassily Kandinsky "Yellow, Red, Blue" source: Canvasprintshere.com 

Gabrielle Münter, Wassily Kandinsky's partner, was searching for her own personal expression.

Gabriele Münter "Kind mit Teddybär" source: christies.com

Käthe Kollwitz in Berlin was searching for the human being, the human expression of love, suffering and sorrow.

My drawing from Käthe Kollwitz's work in the Käthe Kollwitz Museum, Berlin, 2024

Paula Modersohn-Becker searched for herself in the picture. She was the first woman to paint herself naked.

Paula Moderson Becker "Selbstportrait Schwanger" source: artheroes.de

Constantin Brancusi was searching for new forms in sculpture. Emotion.

Constantin Brancusi "The Kiss" source: thevintagenews.com

I certainly can't say whether I am making great art, but we will come to that in a moment. I can only say that I am always searching for the human element. I try to express the impressions and experiences I have in images. That is my language.

Now we have established the following:

• Art is made by people for people.
• Artists are seekers of knowledge.

Now we need to clarify something: What is a work of art?

Art must be meaningful, but without purpose.

If someone makes a work to communicate their experiences and memories, it is certainly meaningful. It is completely irrelevant whether he or she is in a wheelchair or not. It is never about WHO made the art (that is only interesting from an art historical point of view), but HOW the work of art looks.

Before we continue to discuss whether a work of art is a work of art, we must be aware that we will never know for sure when a work becomes a work of art. It is not clear. We can only approach art carefully and appropriately with art judgments.

I myself follow, among others, the categories of the philosopher Immanuel Kant from his “Critique of Judgment”. They are understandable and therefore practical for communicating with others. We need to talk to each other about works of art! However, because these basics are no longer taught, the discussion is often rather brief. It usually ends quickly with a purely subjective assessment: “I like it/I don't like it”. That is not an objective judgment, but a personal opinion.

An opinion is not a wrong starting point, because you have to like something in order to be willing to engage with a work. But the purely subjective is not enough, because it leaves you alone with your opinion. But being alone is not the idea that is inherent in us. We always need the company of others to develop ourselves. I can only get to know myself through others.

OK, you may be scratching your heads now and thinking: Hmmm, why can't we ever know what a work of art is? And only approach it carefully?

I'll try to explain this using the example of nature:

We will never know if nature is the nature we call nature. A tree does not turn to us and say, “Look, I am a tree!” It is only humans who decide that a tree is a tree and what its characteristics are. But we will never know for sure whether we have come up with the ultimate verdict on nature.

Back to art. When we look at a work of art, it is not about the artist, but always about the work. Or do you see an artist hanging on the wall here somewhere? No! It is the work that hangs on the wall and not the artist! That's why we have to talk about the work! It doesn't matter whether Van Gogh cut off his ear or not.

On the other hand, if we can call anything and everything art, haven't we lost art? That's why we need criteria to make an artistic judgment.

The question is: Does the work stand up to our judgment of art? For example, does it represent a space in which I myself would like to be? Is it a narrative space? Does everything together show the three components of a work of art: color (that is light), form (that is space) and movement? Was it made by people?

We can apply the criteria of Immanuel Kant and discuss them with each other.

I have three examples of criteria for you here (there are a few more):

Daniel Buess "Kind" artESB 24

You are standing in front of a picture. For example, this one. You look at it – that is, you observe it. Do you need to know anything else to enjoy the picture? Do you need to know what the artist was thinking when he painted it? No?! That's because the work is a world unto itself. It needs nothing outside of itself. A work of art is always unique and complete. In technical jargon, this is called a “singular totality”. Now you have already been able to make an art judgment!

Sozdar Bal "Sommerbaum", artESB 24

Let's look further. Do you see something different in the picture than your neighbor? Do you have a different experience with the work? I'm sure I see something different from you both again! That's just the openness of the work. A work of art is ambiguous, open to any interpretation. It is an open system of signs and can only be interpreted from within this system, not from outside theses. It is useless for me to write a 10-page essay that everyone should read before looking at the work – in order to understand the work at all.

Ryota Hasegawa "World Heritage in the Mountains (Machu Picchu)" artESB 24

And the last category for today: When you look at these works in this room, do you see your everyday life? Something really real and unambiguous? Something like the chair you are sitting on? No? This is what we call “the alterity (otherness) of art”. This refers to the negativity of art. However, this is not about negative or positive, but about the form of the negation of the real. Art creates a new world. This is the prerequisite for alterity and for negating the factual and showing the possible and the unforeseeable.

Since few people deal with the criteria for art in order to arrive at useful judgments, gallery owners focus on what sells – that is, on the market. And that, of course, has nothing to do with art. If they were really interested in art, they would be less interested in who made the art and more interested in what makes the art, such as its expressive power.

Imagine you are standing in court and being convicted. But the judge only makes subjective decisions, without criteria. He finds you guilty because he doesn't like the sneakers you're wearing in the courtroom today. Unfortunately, this is all too often how it is with art these days. But now you have already learned three reliable criteria that you can apply right after my lecture. Turn to your neighbor and discuss your favorite painting in the exhibition. Is it a world of its own? Is it different from the world you know?

It is very important that we use our senses to understand the world. And not leave it to algorithms to decide what is good for us. We have to focus our senses on the world. The world sends its phenomena to us and reality arises at the intersection of our senses and these phenomena. And this reality is different for each and every person (as Hans Blumenberg showed in his work: “The Realities in Which We Live”). If we no longer have this feeling for the world, our reality, which we experience through our senses, we can no longer understand the world in which we live, which brings fear and anxiety – and then manifests itself in politics.

The more works of art we look at, the more open we become. Because we experience that there is not only our point of view, not only our opinion, but completely different ways of experiencing the world, completely different ways of expressing ourselves. That is why it is important to look at as much art as possible and to be open and free, as Cezanne demanded.

We still have not solved the miracle of how life comes into us, life that is born, grows up and develops into a person who can reflect and think about what they have reflected on. That is the real mystery. To grow up, every child needs adults, plural. No one is an island, we all depend on each other. And because we are all human, you can also go home tonight and think about what I said. Think again about what you have thought about it, reevaluate your thoughts. And you can also write me an email, you can find out more – I have an Art Letter (in German and English), a YouTube channel (in English) and I am always happy to receive atelier visits. 

THAT is why I am all the more pleased to be part of a project that focuses on community, cohesion and mutual support. Only by working together can we develop further – only in this way can we come closer to peace. Looking at art helps us to understand that there are others besides ourselves, other ideas, other realities, other feelings. We all have limitations. These are preconceived notions, the limits of the paper on which I want to paint, the limits of the material I want to use. But one thing is completely irrelevant: as long as we are human, we have the power of art within us and can also express it in works of art.

Who made the work of art is completely irrelevant! It's only the HOW that matters.

Thank you for reading!

© Sibylle Laubscher