Art is the Universal Language...Right?

It is often said that music is a language everyone can understand and feel. How and why is that?  Why is it when I am listing to Selena’s “No me Queda Mas,” I am deeply sad and full of melancholy but I have absolutely no idea of what’s she saying. I am sure some may have translated this in more scientific terms, but I am going to speak on it, like your everyday loving art enthusiast. Music speaks melodically and through its words and various musical expressions, we as humans sense it intuitively and emotionally. Making us feel connected to the piece that speaks personally to us. However I believe this can extend further within other art expressions as well. Such, as paintings, films, dance, etc.

Have you ever seen a piece of art that has moved you in some sort of way? Anger you, made you happy, or caused you to think? Have you shared that moment with someone presently without and when you speak to each other about the work, to grasp the same ideas? Art to me can be a universal language as it is both powerful and moving. Yes, if you’re educated to learn about the history of the piece or about the creator that made, it can help to understand the piece more. However, as a creator myself, my favorite thing is to hear someone who in unfamiliar about who I am or my work, experience for the first time, and then without any assistance from me, understand what I was trying to say.

Here is my impromptu idea for the week: Create a piece of art, music, writing, whatever your creative vice. Then have a few different people observe your work and tell you what they think it means. Write it down and make comparisons. Did they all get the same point of view? Did it vary, if so, what were the differences and the similarities? See how your creative language spoke.

“There can be no more distilled expression of a culture than its works of art.”

- John M. Edger