The Main Task of a True Artist

(Opinion article)

There are creators who cultivate GOOD art, reproducing beauty as such: elevated love and elegant body, laudable landscapes and superb skylines and so on. As once Mahatma Gandhi said, “When I admire the wonders of a sunset or the beauty of the moon, my soul expands in the worship of the creator.”

There are those who write for the EVIL of the day: they call for rebellion against oppressors, ridicule high-rank people and mock at money-making society, wake up national consciousness and ignore any taboos. As Simone de Beauvoir remarked, “Art is an attempt to integrate evil.”

I cannot agree with the idea that the main task of the art is to spotlight just only beauty. Love is always connected with hate, hate is always connected with death, death is always connected with life, and life is impossible without beauty. Beauty is good but ugly topics could be not less important.

We can not restrict ourselves to what surrounds us and pleases the eye. We need to look deeper. Every artist decides for himself what his creations will be talking about. Will they simply cultivate beauty or call for decisive actions?
It is necessary to remember the powerful force of pictures and words that can raise people, establish justice, and change something for the better.

Truly, beauty occupies a minor place in our life; it functionally just only satisfies our aesthetic needs; it does not push us to change something.
Therefore, the glorification of beauty in all its manifestations is an integral part of the arts, but the creation of artists, which carry the idea of the awakening of consciousness, aspiration for change, is more important. There were, there are and there will be a lot of problems in our lives, but if we close their eyes and will think only about aristocratic art and benevolent beauty, we will never solve the ugly issues.