Melange vol.4: EDITORIAL

Not 'Art for art's sake'

In modern life there are so many choices. What education to take? What career to follow? With who and when to get married? Art too involves a selection of choices. The choice of preference in modern art seems to be infinite. To be extreme (or may be not), even a dot made by a pencil on a piece of paper can be called art, if the person who drew it wanted to call it art. It is up to your 'sense' - what kind of art you like, and it is totally acceptable to prefer the dot on a piece of paper to a famous masterpiece.

In addition to the choice of preferences, messages in modern art are becoming increasingly incomprehensible. If you go to a modern art exhibition, often you will feel puzzled because things in front of you do not make any sense. It could be a cup covered with fur, a bicycle wheel on a table, or drips of paint on canvass.

I am not going to criticise or challenge modern art. As a matter of fact, I live in a modern time, so I find many of these artworks very interesting. However, "what is going on?" is my question. Why is it that people cannot express simple emotion in a simple way? For me it is as if artists are having a competition in how to surprise people. However, I think now we are already familiar with the initial shock; it is not new any more. For example, an offensive theme in art could have been a great shock 100 years ago. But now the common response is "oh, another one."

The irony of this situation is that it is now almost "shocking" to present some "simple art" expressing simple emotion. In fact, in art that is loved by many people regardless of age, I feel that the message is simple and easy to comprehend. For instance, not many people will be puzzled to listen to Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" or to see some of the paintings of Renoir.

This is an editorial for a literature magazine, not art. However, art and literature are closely related. Perhaps it is not too much to say literature is a form of art expressed in words. As one of the founders, my original intention of forming this writers' group The 8th Continent was to realise that "simple art" can be expressed through words. Our aim is not only writing but also communicating with readers. Please feel free to make any comment or suggestion on our work to: melange_writers@hotmail.com

We, the Writers' Group The 8th Continent are more than happy to have your contributions to this magazine Melange, as well as to have you as a group member. Please note: We appreciate if work is written in English. Also, (in harmony with what have been writing in this Editorial) we do not accept works with any offensive, inappropriate theme or language. Because they do not shock us.

Itsuka Yamasaki (Writers' Group The 8th Continent)