Art is the juxtaposition of the soul into reality.

Many years ago, with the context of the quote eluding me, I shared with friends this idea, that art is the juxtaposition of the soul into reality.

My high school senior class yearbook theme was juxtaposition. I didn’t know what the word meant at the time, until about a year after I had graduated when I decided to look it up. Essentially, it is the combining or contrasting of two objects into one form, or at least those are the words I would use to describe it. For argument’s sake, I’ll include the Dictionary.com definition as well: “an act or instance of placing close together or side by side, especially for comparison or contrast.”

When I think about a work of art, in any of it’s forms, it was brought to life by the actions of another person, in their own very intimate perspective of how they see the world. Art then becomes a snapshot of someone’s very sense of being captured in time for all of eternity.

One could argue it is a reflection of a person’s soul, the incorporeal stuff that makes us human. The true essence of what it means to be abstract, yet hold form. The mystery of life itself, and we can catch glimpses of it anytime we find something that we did not make ourselves. To be alive and to witness beauty is a wonderous event, sacred by some means, and when people create that which they capture in their mind’s eye and give physical form, art breathes life into the fabric of reality.

The mark of a true artist is that they give a piece of themselves to the world, expecting nothing in return, and hope that their work can inspire emotion in others that have the opportunity to observe it. As a parting thought, does any piece of art come to mind that has instilled passion within you, just by it’s very existence?