{"id":33043,"date":"2019-05-07T12:51:29","date_gmt":"2019-05-07T12:51:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artzealous.com\/?p=33043"},"modified":"2019-05-07T12:53:44","modified_gmt":"2019-05-07T12:53:44","slug":"ask-the-collector-with-holly-hager-collecting-101-why-art-part-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artzealous.com\/ask-the-collector-with-holly-hager-collecting-101-why-art-part-i\/","title":{"rendered":"Ask the Collector With Holly Hager Collecting 101: Why Art? Part I"},"content":{"rendered":"
(above) Hair standing on end, eyes narrowed, nostrils flaring, and teeth clenched, Jean-Michel Basquiat\u2019s <\/span>Untitled Head<\/span>, 1982, grabs you by the throat. Photo by the author of work currently on view at the Brant Foundation.<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n People always ask why art is important to me, but author\u00a0<\/span>Bianca Bosker<\/span><\/a>\u00a0recently asked me why art is important at all. She has a fair point. Art can seem like the ultimate luxury, especially in the face of climate change, war, mass shootings, and Trump. Except it\u2019s not.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Art is all about the experience. <\/b>Owning expensive art is a luxury, but experiencing it isn\u2019t.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n That\u2019s easy for me to say from my perch of white, socioeconomic privilege. So I\u2019ll defer to Jean-Michel Basquiat, who was neither white nor (at least initially) privileged. A stunning array of the artist\u2019s work is currently on view at the <\/span>Brant Foundation<\/span><\/a>. Whether you love or hate his childlike style, there\u2019s no denying the immensity of its primal power. His work is art at its most universal. Hair standing on end, eyes narrowed, nostrils flaring, and teeth clenched, <\/span>Untitled Head<\/span><\/em> grabs you by the throat. In two dimensions, Basquiat embodies the combination of fear and rage we all feel when we\u2019re threatened. His depiction of flight or fight is so recognizable that you might instinctively recoil from it without even knowing why.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Art is influencing you, whether you realize it or not.<\/b> A picture says a thousand words\u2026just try writing a sunset. <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Images are the best communication devices. Their strength means that art has always shaped society. Chinese characters are images of the concepts they represent and vice versa. Egyptian pharaohs awed their people with monumental sculptures of themselves and their gods. The stained-glass windows in Notre Dame aren\u2019t just beautiful. The windows illustrate biblical passages that taught illiterate peasants the basics of Christianity. Islamic art, with its lack of figures, constantly reinforces its prohibition against idolatry.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n