ART FOR THE SOUL

Is meaninglessness the best message for art?

- Asaph Low

We are two months away from the new decade, and we are approaching a new ten-year period with refreshed definitions. 2010 began with a glimmer of hope with America’s first African American president sworn into the Oval Office, after the height of the 2007 global recession. While the current decade is marked with a rapid rise in technology that promises to improve our quality of life, this hope seems to be dwindling amidst the doom and gloom that is gripping the world now. If 2010 was the decade of renewed hope and promises, 2020 might be the decade of fear and uncertainty as the world enters an age of Anthropocene filled with political unrest and civil wars.

If there is one place the world can seek solace from disarray, it would be the realm of art. Art, such as paintings, murals, installations, and music, is omnipresent – its importance is understated and at times unappreciated. Art lifts our spirits, moods, and emotions, but does it need a message to be effective or should it remain meaningless as a source of distraction?