Art: mysterious simulation, passionate responses

For about 6 years I took art lessons. I was an aspiring landscape oil painter of an old, classical school. I logged in thousands of hours in the Fjordland Studio with my instructor - learning to mix my own custom mediums, create bristle-color-surface combinations, and tackling endless scene types. The school of painting I was learning was one that intended to capture natural scenes with as much realism as possible while leaving the least evidence of method and brushstroke. It was a game - to mysteriously re-create a natural scene in such a way that the human eye was not distracted by the evidence of our brushes!

For a few years the art scene was a magnificent journey of mysteries. How do you recreate the lighting, dimensions and vitality of a seaside sunset, crystal clear Alaskan mountain-scape or pastoral field? How do you achieve re-creation without evidence of touch? After awhile I could walk up and diagnose the medium, paint type, brush type and method used on a majority of paintings. There was a thrill to decoding art and nature in tandem! I described the physical world in new terms - Cerulean, Umber, Thalo, Ochre, and Grumbacher Yellow #5.

After an exhibit that effectively stole the joy of painting in lieu of the forced demand to produce quantities and types of pieces, a realization struck me: what an odd pursuit it is to invest enormous amounts of time into simulating reality and re-evoking the passionate response originally felt by a scene experienced in the past. Why do we enjoy and indulge in art so much? What about the (in some ways) silliness of pseudo-photography and emotional replay do we find alluring?

For the artist there's the shadow mission to transmit a personal emotion and perspective through the silent media of the finished piece. For the observer there's a dual experience in discerning the mood and intent of the artist plus the personal, soulical movement evoked.

Why do we enjoy art so much?