PROJECT
FEATURE ARTICLE
THE VANCOUVER SUN
Who Needs Art?
– ABOUT THE PROJECT
Driving through Vancouver one morning, I noticed a large billboard by a local property developer advertising a new waterfront condominium tower with expansive windows and few walls. The billboard’s tagline was – Who Needs Art? The question asked is essentially whether looking at art and a looking at a view are the same type, or have the same worth, as an experience. So the Vancouver Sun commissioned me to write a good-natured but honestly argued response. Who needs art indeed.
“As Baudelaire saw it, the whole of the universe is only – ‘a storehouse of images and signs to which the imagination assigns a place and a relative value; it is a kind of nourishment that imagination must digest and transform’. The art historian Simon Schama is even bolder, arguing that the power of the greatest art is the power “to shake us into revelation”. It is not only what we see but what we see differently that matters. Art transforms the experience of life by making it more than the sum of its parts.”
– Barry Dumka
EXCERPT
THE VANCOUVER SUN
Who Needs Art?
But the question remains – is art akin to a view? And is it similarly constrained by what you can see?
In the E. M. Forster novel “A Room With A View”, the young Lucy Honeychurch, cosseted by Edwardian innocence, arrives in Florence only to be disappointed that her room lacks a view. Her guardian is outraged. Still, it’s not a glimpse of the Arno that will matter in the end. Lucy soon visits the Santa Croce where she comes across the famous frescoes by Giotto, the first Western artist to put personality and not just piety into his paintings. While the characters in these pieces are the usual pre-Renaissance parade of biblical figures, here they begin to emerge for their individuality. No longer just props; now players. With Giotto, the light of modernity begins to flicker. Lucy sees this light and is transformed.
What we see in a painting is not always what is in front of us. That is one of the ways that original art differs from a view. Art relies upon artifice, a leap of faith into an imagined realm. A view is more passively experienced. We take what there is to see and celebrate or complain accordingly. A back alley dumpster is never mistaken for a soaring mountainscape. You see what you see. Art has a more ambitious plan for our perceived world.
— (end of excerpt)
© Barry Dumka/BCREATIVE CONSULTING
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What you say matters.
BCreative Consulting provides our clients a wide range of written and ghostwritten material to achieve their messaging goals. The key is to write with an audience in mind. Emotion, authenticity and storytelling all play a part in capturing the attention and loyalty of others.
For artists, personal brands and small businesses, the story of their creative individuality - the vital core of their identity - is a powerful opportunity to connect what they do with others. Your audience wants to be informed and inspired. Go at it with gusto.
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BCreative Consulting works with our clients to shape the image and stories they share in this social media-fuelled marketing age. Digital storytelling is one of the most effective methods for growing audience engagement, developing your brand presence and driving sales. Compelling content earns you stature, inspires trust and stokes curiosity and loyalty. But you have to think about your audience as much as yourself. Still, even the most personal stories can have universal appeal. Be relatable and be inspiring.
Art Consulting + Event Curation
What others experience matters.
BCreative provides art consulting and event curation services for select projects to create aesthetically appealing and client-focused experiences. With extensive art consulting and project management experience for residential, commercial and hospitality projects throughout North America, we know the vision and strategic choices necessary to create exceptional art collections. Sales-focused creative events also require strategic planning and a purposeful vision. To create lasting value, it's essential to make a beautiful first impression.
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As a freelance creative consultancy, BCreative Consulting gets involved in many unique projects specific to the needs of our clients. We enjoy insightful conversations, positive client relationships and heralding the authentic meaning and value at the core of all creative efforts. It’s a powerful opportunity – and a great challenge – to inspire an audience. And we love being part of that process.
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