ART'S PURPOSE

by Michael Douglas Carlin

      How many yellow pads of paper are being filled with notes right now in Century City? How many contracts are being negotiated? How many transactions? How much stress?

Many will say of public art, "Why? What is the purpose?" 

Art is the platform that holds up all structures. God bless the managers and technicians, for without them this world couldn't function. Let's all revere the sacred creators, the artists, who see a void and fill it with something to take us away from our pedestrian transactions and lined yellow pads–to give us meaning to our being human.

How fitting that we have twenty-two animals to remind us that we are the only creatures who create art for no reason at all. How fitting that these animals are here to remind us of the stewardship that we have to take care of our community, state, country, and planet. How fitting that we have something new to bind us together as a community. We have something to talk about that can bridge chasms. We have something to celebrate our precious gift of life that all of us have in common. Art, in all of its forms, is what will lead us to shed our daily scheming to fill our bank accounts with stored energy to be spent at our will or whim. Art is what will cause us to have the most meaningful conversations about our existence.

The public art in Century City on the medians is your opportunity to meet your neighbors while you are walking around basking in the reflections that mirror creatures on our planet. At the crosswalk, as you are waiting for green, simply ask your fellow pedestrians what they think of the art and see where this conversation goes. You may meet someone who can enrich your life, or you may meet someone whom you pass in the halls every day. You might hear something that causes you to see this world a little differently. You might find inspiration to stray from your normal routine and do something daring and courageous.

Those of you in conference rooms who are experiencing a tense negotiation might ease the tension with your opponent, who has been sitting across from you, by sharing a walk out to the medians for a few minutes. As you share the view of this magnificent art, talk about how this art makes you feel and find out how it makes your adversary feel. The negotiations may take a turn that builds upon a bond created by appreciating art—together.

The curator of this exhibit, Carl Schlosberg, invited us all to create our own dialogues of what is going on with the animals. He said: "The tigers are the kings, they represent the power and they are protecting their territory: representative of the people who work in the surrounding buildings."

There are twenty-two animals in this exhibition for you to enjoy and chat about during the next year. When they are gone, we will miss them. So don't waste any time by not interacting with and appreciating the beauty that Gwynn Murrill, Carl Schlosberg, the Century City Arts Council and the Century City Chamber of Commerce have brought to Century City. A few minutes of art appreciation can take away a mountain of stress. I guess art really does have purpose after all.

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© 2014 Michael Douglas Carlin. All Rights Reserved.