Everyone blames the internet as the devil that killed reading. I do not completely agree with such a judgement. I do feel that the information overload the internet may unleash, if used thinkingly, makes us more aware and conscious.
Look at the date April 15, for instance. Yes, despite soaking in the aura of THE Leonardo da Vinci whose 'Monalisa', 'The Last Supper' and the 'Vetruvian Man' have awed the whole world, this artist to whom, while teaching the Elizabethan Era, I have each time referred to as the Renaissance Man who strode the worlds of both art and science, while referring to Dan Brown's "Da Vinci Code" as an alternative look at 'his-story', yes, despite all such acquaintances, I did not remember that April 15 is his birth anniversary!
Apparently, the UNESCO has declared it to be the World Art Day. Yes, we need such a celebration of art, especially right now, when the very many direct and indirect wars have brought the wor(l)d real close to self-destructions of all sorts!
Right now we do need very many George Orwell's and Ernest Hemingway's and Picasso's whose art, whether verbal or painterly, spoke from the heart, and denounced the soulless cruelties and tactless uglinesses of the all-destroying wars!
Art, whatever the type, plastic, performing, spatial, kinetic, verbal, that is, be it painting, sculpture, a play or a music/dramatic performance or be it a wizardry of language and meaning in a poem/a novel/a play, art enriches us.
Art equalises us, too. It shows us, for instance, the unmistakable connect between the lower and the higher forms of the aesthetic expression. For me, the unique perspectives an artistic rangoli provides makes me understand better the more difficult, enriching, energising art of abstract painting!
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