174. Reviving Traditional Art

I recently sat down with Amy Mastrine, an artist who works in traditional mediums, to talk about the state of art. Finding a way to create new iterations of traditional art is something that would go a long way for our culture. Because I enjoyed this conversation, I wanted to revisit some of the great insights to discuss them more. Amy offered a lot of interesting ideas, so I thought it would be good to elaborate and offer my thoughts. Also, I’ve thought about doing this for some of my other interviews, so if you enjoy this, let me know! And, if there’s anyone I should interview, let me know here.

“Culture is the arts elevated to a set of beliefs.”
–Thomas Wolfe

The Beauty of Traditional Art

Digital art lacks soul in some way. There are a lot of great things happening in digital art. For instance, video games are creating incredible scenes. Despite the beauty one can create with digital art, there is something irreplaceable about traditional art.

Beauty is Objective

Beauty is an objective reality. Although many people will argue it is subjective, it is an objective reality. However, people who argue for the subjectivity of beauty touch on something true. Because beauty is an abstraction, it does require a subject to observe it.

The highest form of art

What is the highest form of art? Is it painting, sculpting, or stained glass? In this interview, Amy called architecture the highest form of art, and I agree. Although architecture isn’t often thought of as art, I would say it is. In my opinion, art is creating beauty in an expressive way. Despite not being expressive in the same way, architecture does have this relationship to people because it is how we live.