The Cyclical Nature of Global Artistic Expression

The Cyclical Nature of Global Artistic Expression

There are so many visual art forms presented throughout the world that an art historian or researcher can face a very difficult time trying to view art influences on a grand collective scale. Each individual draws from their own source of inspiration and imagination, however I find that it’s clear and provable that influences in today’s art world can narrow down to just a few major dominating social interests or trends. To make my point, I am going to focus on two: war and ancient culture.  Once attention is drawn to these social trends creating a driving force behind artwork inspiration, a pattern easily presents itself, asserting the cyclical nature of artistic decline and inclination mirroring, for example, the cycles of war and economic growth/decline. Our personal place in this cycle also asserts itself, once observed, creating opportunity for epic, unique growth.

It is my belief that anything that reaches out and touches the entire world has entered the realm of what I like to consider the “collective consciousness.”  Social trends are certainly a product of this collective consciousness. It is a culmination of everything that is trendy, famous and part of the entire general public’s eye. This collective consciousness is also the vital glue that holds our societies together and keeps us from the woes of destructive chaos.  The reality of life is chaos.  However, we as human beings have mastered our intelligence to the point that we can organize and compartmentalize this chaos and form structure and order from it. We can structure this chaos however we choose. For example, the language we speak and the letters I’m writing are only chaotic sounds and symbols. It’s because we've agreed on their meanings that we have formed language, one of the largest contributors to the “collective consciousness” I am describing. This collective consciousness also is home to our taste for things like music and fashion as a whole. We influence each other more than we may realize. Think about the hippy movements in the 60s or the punk era in the 80s just to name a few more recent examples. Generations of humans flock together, knowingly or not, and form ideals together. This article will focus on the collective ideals in, specifically, the art world. What is the driving force behind our artistic expression?--Not individually, but as a whole.

War, although violent and destructive, is one of the major phenomenon that is able to permeate through the bubble of our separate realities, and attract massive amounts of global attention. Anything catching attention on such a massive scale will receive global concern, and ultimately cause some form of inspiration, whether it be consciously or subconsciously. Everyone reacts to emotional stimulus in a different way, so a negative situation can bring about endless forms of expression. Inspiration is inspiration. With seven billion people on Earth, one spark causes infinite amounts of interpretation, while the source of interest remains the same.

During wartime you will certainly see protest art. This can be in the form of a “counteractive” approach where instead of artists depicting their pain and hurt reflecting the losses of war, they instead opt to create peaceful art symbolic of a culture and world they would prefer.  This is not a bad idea. Surrounding yourself with the peace and bliss you would like to see manifest in the world is a way to achieving that dream. The use of symbols, such as the peace sign, the dove and psychedelic flowers are all great examples of the universal language created through these positive movements. It all goes back to the point about a collective conscious being the driving force behind our expression, as the peace signs and flowers are all just “chaotic,” random symbols used to stand for something else. It is us that has attached and assigned meaning to them. Our symbols and our artworks can become a universal language, advocating peace on Earth. There are countless examples of these peaceful art movements happening during war throughout Earth’s history. Some more modern examples such as the Vietnam war, WWII, and even the War on Terror are heavily documented. The music and art community exploded in the hippy era protesting war and violence, advocating peace and love. The war on terror has also influenced much similar protest art. Many works portray peaceful alliances between the west and middle-east.

On the other hand, wartime also brings with it art depicting scenes of violence and blue emotions. This can be another form of protest art, or simply raw expression of pain and struggle. Some would argue that only creating “Peace & Love” art during hard times shields people from the truth and is analogous to ignorance or even submissiveness to the opposing side through inaction. I can see that point and it is hard to say which method is more effective in distinguishing war efforts; remaining positive or giving into dark emotion. I think the combination is important. It takes immeasurable strength to remain positive in a time of despair; however it takes remarkable courage to express one’s loss and weakness.  All of these art forms can be healing on infinite levels.  During war time sometimes art is needed to manifest strength, and sometimes it is needed to release despair.

Almost every organization whether it is a country, an army, a society or a dictatorship also utilizes art’s power with flags and symbols to carry their energy and their intention. Think of the Swastika, Country and State flags, or even religious symbols.  All are great examples of art’s potential power and use. 

Before the swastika was adopted by the Nazis to represent fascism and white supremacy, it was used by countless ancient cultures including China and India, as well as countries all through Europe.  Its use has been documented as far back as to the Indus River Valley Civilization 3000 years before Christ. The swastika is a Chinese character translating to “infinity.” Hinduism and Buddhism make use of the symbol to this day. To them the swastika literally means “to be good” or “to be with the higher self.” This really proves the power of the collective consciousness. It is remarkable a symbol alone can carry so much power and be so widely recognized and used.

       Many dictators and other officials have manipulated art and artists during their sieges of power throughout history, whether it be to intentionally fuel efforts to their advantage or simply through their unbiased overall destruction. The destruction yields long lasting implications, changing art’s future with a butterfly effect.  Plenty of talented artists who would have made a name for themselves and influenced the world were stopped dead in their tracks for their opposing cultural or religious beliefs. I’m not sure if these officials actually understood the significance of their manipulation. A prime example of this is the destructive tendencies of the Nazi party toward insubordinate artists. The Preussische Akademie der Kunste, responding to Nazi directives expelled his "degenerate" members from his 1937 exhibition.War’s destruction over the years has also caused an uncountable number of invaluable art pieces to be forever lost from their residences, museums and public structures etc. This obviously rewinds the art progress clock. The losses are simply devastating. Nothing can bring the art back.

Another big player in art's major influences to date is Ancient art, particularly that of the ancient Egyptian and Mayan cultures. They have really sparked a massive interest in artists for thousands of years. The works of these societies have really stuck, transcending any and all language barrier limitations. I believe that these people really sparked an incredibly heightened sense of creativity and dedication that the world had never seen before, and frankly hasn’t seen sense.  Monuments such as the great sphinx, the temple of giza and the mayan ruins are such elaborate, mind blowing works of creation, that it makes one question where that first spark of intelligence and diligence came from. Regardless of its source, the world has been reaping the benefits of such inspiration ever since. These monuments, as well as all other ancient works are so bewilderingly elaborate that they became a beacon shining out to all artists, transcending time itself, and transcending distance. Who on Earth hasn’t heard of the great pyramids?

More recent advances in technology, such as radiocarbon dating, have provided a major boost in keeping ancient arts popular and relevant to present day.  Word of a new discovery is breaking news all over the globe.  Modern machinery has made it easier than ever before to discover, excavate and move ancient artifacts. Modern technology has made it simpler than ever for humans to reach out and communicate news. 

On the other side of the coin, the more we discover about ancient art, the more illuminated we are to our lack of knowledge in the past. As we overcome these obstacles and solve mysteries we are taking leaps and bounds forward, but at the same time we take a step back. This paradigm has been described by many, not as a crisis, but as a “loss of innocence”. As we make further advancements we retreat from a mentality of “look how much we know” to “look how little we know.” It is a sort of humbling smack in the face if that makes sense. As we view the larger picture, we basically shrink in comparison. The more we know, the less we know. This certainly asserts again my argument of cyclicality. 

Many professional fine artists go so far as to describe themselves as assisting with the evolution of our planet. I believe this is true. The way I see it, we are all artists and our art is the evolution of the planet. I take even speech and clothing into account when considering forms of artistic expression. The way a person speaks is their expression and the way a person walks is their expression. Even these simple habits live in the collective. For example, you don’t really hear people saying, “Can you dig it?” all the time like many did in the sixties and seventies.  People say “sick” and “word” and use “like” in their speech much more than in previous years. Only one hundred years ago in this country the slang we use today was nonexistent. Speech has changed entirely and slowly but surely every day. Art in all its forms truly keeps us in the moment and keeps us on track. Our expression is a vital changeling, living and evolving along with each of us. Art of any kind is simply the outward expression of everything inside of us, and how else could we come close to even hinting at communicating the nature of our souls? Our personal taste in music and all forms of audio and visual art evolves and changes with our lives on a personal level as much as on the larger global scale. Each of our contributions builds onto the collective consciousness.

The world we live in revolves in a cyclical nature. Obviously the physical world itself is shaped in a sphere and rotates in a never ending circle, but I am more interested in addressing the more abstract tendencies of the world. It is my belief that all aspects of life revolve in this same fashion and energy if you simply take the time to dissect all the pieces of your reference point. For the purpose of this hypothetical, the reference point is art. From a far glance, art itself is irrelevant to forming these conclusions, however if you look deeply enough you form the same cyclic patterns that exist in nature.  Art as a movement has always excelled and then done a complete U-turn over and over. The modern day art movement is certainly booming on a global scale with its exceeding amounts of spiritual and “new age” inspiration, however this is certainly far from the furthest we have ever treaded. We are still scratching our heads at the marvel of ancient ruins. Our technology today is literally incapable of reproducing the Giza pyramid. However we are far from the dumps. We have modern and complex mediums available to us with a lifetime of inspiration to feed from and bounce off each other.  I can see that we are headed in a bright direction at the present moment. I believe the pattern will continue. We can merely observe our participation in the cycle.