# Can artists do more than communicate?



## Robert Bennie

G'day forum

Can artists do more than communicate?

Robert


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## melanota

Robert Bennie said:
			
		

> G'day forum
> 
> Can artists do more than communicate?
> 
> Robert


 
Are you a nihilist? (in all respect)

Everyone is in an constant state of communication whether we are aware of it or not!  Everyone is an artist!  Therefore every artist is in a constant state of communication.  Even a defication is a form of communication!

If anyone says that they are an artist and that they aspire to inspire, a communication has to happen first.  

Your question is growing on me... looking forward to reading other's answers.


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## abc

Robert,

What else would you want them to do?


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## cuchuflete

melanota said:
			
		

> Your question is growing on me... looking forward to reading other's answers.



Hi Melanota,
Robert stated recently that he might wish to *pose* a significant question.

That artists communicate depends only on whether anyone else is ever exposed to their art.  Whether they stimulate or inspire or persuade is of interest to some.


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## cuchuflete

As an aside, this is an English *Language* forum.  Unless the original question is meant to exclude music, sculpture, painting, etc., this thread belongs in another forum.
I'll move it.  If Robert chooses to specify that the question deals only with artists working with the English language, the thread can come back to its forum of origin.

Cuchuflete,
Mod.


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## Robert Bennie

Writers and speakers may fall under the catagory of artists and I had assumed that as this was an English Language forum any further explination may have been superfluous but you are correct and I was wrong.

Can artists using language do more than communicate?

Robert


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## Benjy

Robert Bennie said:
			
		

> Writers and speakers may fall under the catagory of artists and I had assumed that as this was an English Language forum any further explination may have been superfluous but you are correct and I was wrong.
> 
> Can artists using language do more than communicate?
> 
> Robert



now that the thread is in the culture forum you can talk about any genre d'artist that you want


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## cuchuflete

Robert Bennie said:
			
		

> Can artists using language do more than communicate?
> 
> Robert



Yes.........


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## te gato

Robert;
I think they can...The same way an artist paints a picture..a writer paints a picture of what they want you to visualize...to see in your mind...They can weave magic from words..mental images are very important in enjoying a good book, poem..what have you...

te gato 



			
				Robert Bennie said:
			
		

> Can artists using language do more than communicate?
> 
> Robert


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## Edwin

Robert Bennie said:
			
		

> Can artists do more than communicate?






			
				cuchuflete said:
			
		

> Yes.........



No  

*communicate*
1 verb:   transmit thoughts or feelings 
2 verb:   transmit information 
3  verb:   administer communion; in church
4  verb:   be in verbal contact; interchange information or ideas 
5  verb:   join or connect 
6  verb:   receive Communion, in the Catholic church
7  verb:   transfer to another


PS Cuchu, How did you get a single word comment? By using your moderator privileges?


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## te gato

Edwin said:
			
		

> No
> 
> *communicate*
> 1 verb: transmit thoughts or feelings
> 2 verb: transmit information
> 3 verb: administer communion; in church
> 4 verb: be in verbal contact; interchange information or ideas
> 5 verb: join or connect
> 6 verb: receive Communion, in the Catholic church
> 7 verb: transfer to another
> 
> 
> PS Cuchu, How did you get a single word comment? By using your moderator privileges?


Hey Edwin;
Sorry I disagree..I think they can...using words you can paint a mental image..
As to how Cuchu got a single word coment..look closely at your quote from Cuchu..he used nine invisable dots ......... 

te gato


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## cuchuflete

Hi Edwin,

Yes!

We easily agree about the first level of action: to communicate.  So much for the predecesor verb.  Onward to the adverb: effectively.  This, if achieved, allows for some lovely nouns:
-persuasion
-stimulation [thousands of varieties]
-consternation
etc.

Ciao,
Cuchu of the nine [She really counted them] white dots






			
				Edwin said:
			
		

> No
> 
> *communicate*
> 1 verb:   transmit thoughts or feelings
> 2 verb:   transmit information
> 3  verb:   administer communion; in church
> 4  verb:   be in verbal contact; interchange information or ideas
> 5  verb:   join or connect
> 6  verb:   receive Communion, in the Catholic church
> 7  verb:   transfer to another
> 
> 
> PS Cuchu, How did you get a single word comment? By using your moderator privileges?


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## suzzzenn

Hi, 

A lot of the artwork I do doesn't really have communication as a goal. I have many sketch books with drawings that I do for myself; I problem solve, vent my feelings, keep records of ideas, or even sometimes just fufill a whim.  
Susan


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## cuchuflete

suzzzenn said:
			
		

> Hi,
> 
> A lot of the artwork I do doesn't really have communication as a goal. I have many sketch books with drawings that I do for myself; I problem solve, vent my feelings, keep records of ideas, or even sometimes just fufill a whim.
> Susan



No reason to dispute what you say Suzzenn, but that doesn't really matter in terms of Robert's question:  Can artists do more.....?  That you may choose not to, or to devote your art to other purposes, has no bearing on his question.

Sometimes fulfilling whims matters a lot more than communicating
Cuchu


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## suzzzenn

Hi Cuchu, 

I was, in a way, agreeing with what you said in an earlier post. And adding that art can have other purposes than communication. 

"That artists communicate depends only on whether anyone else is ever exposed to their art"

take care, 
Susan


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## gaer

Robert Bennie said:
			
		

> G'day forum
> 
> Can artists do more than communicate?
> 
> Robert


Interesting question, because it makes me think about what "communicate" means.

And are you thinking of "communication" as a passive thing contrasted with taking action as in changing things, building?

I'm tempted to say that I feel nothing is more important than communication. In addition, if communication LEADS to action, to making important changes, to me that makes it even more important. Hmm…

Too late for something so complicated. 

G


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## Robert Bennie

G'day melanota
So it is obvious that this is a gloves off area.  Yeah thanks mate maybe I am a nihlist.  I was agreeing with the definition and liked the bit about the rejection of instutionalised power but when I got to the part about rejecting the possibility of communication and support of terrorism and I decided to get out of there as quickly as I could.

As an artist I came in here with a tentatively grounded theory that I could not communicate past the page and that all I could do was put the words down where I think they should go.  I further understood that I am able to cause emotional reactions with the words I select and the order in which I choose to arrange them.

My desire for knowledge in this area is that the type of emotional reaction to my words fluctuates so wildly that I am unable to predict which piece will provoke rage when the same piece provokes rage and wonder and insight in different doses and varying combinations from individual to individual.

Therefore I would feel conceited to consider that as an artist I am able to do more than communicate a small splinter of a specified section of my life and then wait to see what I have communicated to you but I would be thrilled to be shown the error of my ways.

I believe that the artist is responsible for what is behind and on the page and I further believe that the observer is responsible for the interpretation of that opinion.

Thanks for the lumps and bumps.  I never learn anything by being right and I have a hell of a lot of edges to bump.

If I was boring you would ignore me

Robert


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## gaer

suzzzenn said:
			
		

> Hi,
> 
> A lot of the artwork I do doesn't really have communication as a goal. I have many sketch books with drawings that I do for myself; I problem solve, vent my feelings, keep records of ideas, or even sometimes just fufill a whim.
> Susan


Susan, are you communicating with yourself, in a way? It may be non-verbal, it may just be something on a very subconscious level, it may be all about feelings, and you may choose to keep it private. But who knows where it all leads?

My thought is that we don't have to have the goal to communicate in order to do it, and much like those incredible domino-things where complicated patterns are made up of hundreds or thousands of them, we never know quite where our thought, idea or expression of any kind will lead. 

G

G


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## Benjy

Robert Bennie said:
			
		

> I believe that the artist is responsible for what is behind and on the page and I further believe that the observer is responsible for the interpretation of that opinion.


yes. that what i think  its liek the teacher and the student..you can teach but willl anyone learn? but then is it really teaching


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## te gato

Benjy said:
			
		

> yes. that what i think  its liek the teacher and the student..you can teach but willl anyone learn? but then is it really teaching


Hey Benjy;
Having wee bit of that finger to brain problem..are we?  
I do agree..If the writer/artist..can not catch the mind of the reader..the reader will not read...
You have to have an image to keep it interesting...
Or it justs ends up being one of 'thoes' books that you read the same sentence over..and over again..never realy paying attention to what was on the paper..then you give up and put in in a drawer..never to see the light of day again...

te gato


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## Benjy

te gato said:
			
		

> Hey Benjy;
> Having wee bit of that finger to brain problem..are we?
> I do agree..If the writer/artist..can not catch the mind of the reader..the reader will not read...
> You have to have an image to keep it interesting...
> Or it justs ends up being one of 'thoes' books that you read the same sentence over..and over again..never realy paying attention to what was on the paper..then you give up and put in in a drawer..never to see the light of day again...
> 
> te gato



brain finger problem eh? glad to see I'm not alone


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## Robert Bennie

G'day Benjy
I had not looked at art from the viewpoint of a teacher.  Thank you

Robert


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## Robert Bennie

G'day te gato

I can paint a mental picture but what do you see?

STILL LIFE
There is 
nothing more
or less inspiring
than peach like hips
and a pair of breasts

If you see only what I feel I do not have art but if I intend to tell you a thing and you touch something else I have art.
Robert


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## te gato

Benjy said:
			
		

> brain finger problem eh? glad to see I'm not alone


No benjy;
never alone..at least I will always be by your side.. 

te gato


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## te gato

Hey Robert;
Speaking as an artist..writing is the same as painting a picture...in painting you 'Paint' what you feel on canvas...and hope your painting brings a mental image to the person viewing it...same for writing...the writer puts what they feel on a piece of paper..and hopes that the reader gets a mental image...
but what you have to remember is that we are all different..we all see things differently...in a painting and in writing...what my mental image of your writing is might not be what...say benjy's is...but that still does not mean that it is not art...

te gato 



			
				Robert Bennie said:
			
		

> G'day te gato
> 
> I can paint a mental picture but what do you see?
> 
> STILL LIFE
> There is
> nothing more
> or less inspiring
> than peach like hips
> and a pair of breasts
> 
> If you see only what I feel I do not have art but if I intend to tell you a thing and you touch something else I have art.
> Robert


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## Maika

Robert Bennie said:
			
		

> G'day forum
> 
> Can artists do more than communicate?
> 
> Robert



Yes, I think an artist before communicating something, is feeling, enjoying him/herself. That is the real value of an artist, the necessity of doing something to express, but to the inside. Communication comes after.

Regards from Mexico


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