My Favourite Work of Art

Many years ago I followed a series of lectures about contemporary art given by a Finnish artist Elina Saloranta. She made a strong impression on me, I could have stayed and listened to her thoughts for ages. While she was telling about the work and ideas of various artists, I learned to understand contemporary art better. I have probably never been following any classes with similar enthusiasm.

Take this example of a work of art: on the wall of a gallery, there are snapshots in frames. The pictures portray people and different objects. They are not exactly artistic photos, but simple shots.

Of course there is a story behind each picture. The artist, whose name I unfortunately cannot remember (have not been able to trace it afterwards), had asked a group of people for their meaning of the most beautiful things in the world. The work is starting to live: you can see through the eyes of these people those concrete things they had chosen. The things that meant for them the most.

One of these people has stayed in my mind. A little boy, obviously French, had chosen his three most beautiful things in the world: Virgin Mary, the Eiffel tower and fireworks.

Everyone of us could make such a list of our own. But the idea of this work of art was that the little boy and others who were asked this question, were all blind. Blind since their birth.

How important is vision for experiencing beauty? I can imagine the little boy had heard the fireworks and maybe held a miniature of the Eiffel tower in his hands. When thinking of him I don't know whether I'm sad or happy. Maybe both - sad because he has never had the pleasure to actually see those amazing things, but also happy that he has found his own way of experiencing and tasting the world.

I'm sure that in general the purpose of art is to make us think, discuss, consider things from different viewpoints.

Looking forward to keep broadening my mind...