Thursday 22 August 2013


August Newsletter 2013
Life and Art, Art and Life

I am sitting at the piano rehearsing for my show “What If?...” and as I polish up my songs and stories I feel a familiar squeeze of nerves and expectation that precedes an opening night.  I know I have to submit to the process of building up the work until I have replaced doubt with confidence.  And there is no short cut to be taken.  Ironically my show explores the courage it takes to challenge our fears and desire to stay safe and comfortable.  I find myself, thinking about that old quote about life imitating art.  And I search the web - who said that anyway?



Wikipedia told me that it is a quote from Oscar Wilde, that life imitates art far more than art imitates life.  He said this to demonstrate opposition to the idea that great art simply aims to depict life accurately and in doing so celebrates nature and creation. This has been a prevailing view about art - that it shows us the world we live in and we enjoy it for its remarkable accuracy.  But art is more than that - as the ancient Greeks knew.  They spent years and invented many words in order to accurately discuss the relationship between art and life.  Socrates recognised that rather than simple imitation of fact, there is a always a gap between art and what it is depicting.  This gap is to do with individual perception and the fact that an artist can never attain an objective truth. Wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimesis )says: Plato told of Socrates' metaphor of the three beds: one bed exists as an idea made by God ( thePlatonic ideal ) one is made by the carpenter in imitation of God's idea; one is made by the artist in imitation of the carpenter's.  Artistotle also recognised this gap and saw that it played an important part in the powerful experience art can have, that catharsis is enabled when we can relate to and empathise with a work but when it is removed from fact.  That it is art and not life, enables us to process it more consciously, when we are not caught up in the actual act.


Oscar Wilde, imitating himself?

Oscar Wilde and his contemporaries were also beginning to understand that the world we find ourselves living in is created by our perception.  In his essay, The Decay of Lying, Wilde explores the way in which the perception of our experiences is mediated by the artistic forms and ideas we have internalised - our beliefs influence our perception.  Nature is created by our brains, or at least our experience of nature is.  He went so far as to say that no one had ever noticed the fog in London until poets and artists created a set of beliefs about it being romantic and moody ( http://aestheticstoday.blogspot.com.au/2008/09/oscar-wilde-and-creation-of-london-fog.html ).

So the space between art and life is rich in so many ways - it can tell us about what the artist found important, what they chose to highlight, it enables us a place to contemplate reality from a distance and in turn it influences the way we perceive reality in the future.  We are changed by art.  And for the artist themselves?  They too are changed as they explore life and become part of the cycle of creating and living - processing their experiences, gaining understanding of them, expressing this to others, experiencing the acts of expressing, communication and of being received -  and so it goes on.

And what has all this theory about art got to do with me?  Well, I am diving head long in to the heart of it right now as I prepare for my upcoming show at The Butterfly Club in September.  As much as my show comes from an instinctive desire to tell stories and ideas with words and music, I am also choosing what to include, what to exaggerate, what to hide.  And as much as I know I need to be objective about making good work and entertaining my audience, as I bring this personal work to the stage, I can’t help but be processing the stories and be changed by the experience of performing them.  When the show is complete and the audience have left, I see it anew.  I know of many artists who say they do not know what their work is about until lots of time has passed  - and sometimes they never do!  The gap between reality and perception ensures that art’s meaning is always changing.  It is both confronting and exciting as I try to make my show a fulfilling expression of the themes of regret and hope, courage and fear, sadness and humour and balance this with the telling of stories from my real life.  Surely there is not too much to get bogged down in there!  It sure sounds serious, but believe me when I tell you it will be funny too!  Although it can be challenging, the satisfaction of bringing ideas to life and letting my dreams become action is immense, and it is made so much more when it is shared.

And what has this theory about art got to do with you?  I would like to invite you to take the risk of creating your own work.  Catharsis, emotional processing, fresh understanding of your experiences and the simple joy of action and making are all possible.  Whether it be a drawing, writing, poetry or music, whether it be of great skill or rudimentary self expression - making art is a wonderful way to get to know yourself and your world and to change it too!

What will you be making today?
Kind regards, 

Fiona Claire.

Work with me: Individual Counselling, Creativity and Therapeutic Singing and Songwriting Sessions by appointment. Email: fionaclaire@optusnet.com.au or call 0437 985 132