I overheard a conversation of a child and her mother. The child said that her Maths and Science teachers had "borrowed" their Physical Education and Art lessons to make up for extra classes. And when her mother asked why, she replied "Because Art isn't important."
I think some of us forget that lots of things in our lives are related to Art. Design is Art, and the things we use were all designed by someone. Advertisements are all made by designers. Clothes too. Almost everything that we use in life is created by a designer.
"You can't eat a painting. Science makes discoveries and technological advancements."
Art doesn't do anything for society." But it does. Art is a record of its time. Art moves people and ideas. Art is part of culture and identity. Art presents existing problems to society and asks that something be done about them.
"You don't contribute to society."
We, as artists, pour our souls into doing something that we love. There are things far more important that money and stocks. One of them, I believe, is doing something you love and loving what you do. Artists show people the way they think, the way they feel and see things. We show the beauty there is on this marvelous planet we live on. We show people the wonders of our dreams, and the beauty in imagination. Afterall, in a time before space travel and flight, someone had to say "I wonder how it's like to fly..." and then conceptualise a flight machine to accomplish his dream.
What I'd like, is for Art to be taken seriously by everyone. I don't like it when people joke about a person having no future just because they decided to study Arts. I believe after society reaches a certain mark in economical growth- where most people in that country have a roof over their heads, have a job, have enough food to eat and clean water to drink... That country will soon want to engage itself with Arts. It is only human to do so- we want to feel secure before we head on to more "nobler" things like Arts, and technological advancements, and the likes.
It is my wish that Singapore is headed to a more artistically inclined future- one that takes artists, dancers, singers, athletes, and musicians more seriously. A country that takes pride in the talents it creates. It's headed in that direction already, and I can't wait to see what the future holds.
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