The Health Benefits of Creating Art

Art does more than help people create. It actually makes them healthier. In a number of studies on how creating art improves personal health, the evidence is clear and so are the benefits.

It Keeps Your Mind Sharp

People’s minds lean toward deterioration and a lack of cognition skills as they age, most notably memory and focus. Harvard published the results of a study on geriatric patients with dementia creating art. The results show that these patients, regardless of ability to make art, improved their cognition and memory functioning to the point where they could talk and relay memories they had long forgotten.

Many artists who work as artists report that their ability to focus is very much improved during and after they have made some of their art. The act of creating something involves multiple parts of the human brain that are responsible for problem solving, visual spacing and recognition, color theory and application, etc.. With all of these different areas of the brain waking up to make art, it’s no wonder that art helps patients with dementia restore some cognitive function, even if it’s temporary.

Art Not Only Reduces Stress, but Also Stress Hormones

The body produces a number of stress hormones. The hormones are in response to situations where someone is afraid, overwhelmed, or unwilling to say no to a request when they have already said yes. The hormones cause you to become angry, frustrated, and sometimes aggressive. Thus, the “fight or flight” response is activated, and people strive against those impulses to complete the tasks requested.

However, one study shows that engaging in the act of creating art daily not only reduces stress, but also reduces the production of stress hormones. It’s in the meditative feeling people get while creating that they are able to slip away from what is causing the stress, and find a sense of relief. When people are calmly engaging in creating art, their bodies revert to a moment when the stress hormones were not needed for a “flight or fight” response. It is similar in nature to thirty minutes to an hour of quiet meditation practice, although many find that creating art is more enjoyable than meditation.

The Intricate Tragedy of Vincent Van Gogh

Vincent Van Gogh is possibly one of the most talented painters of all time. He certainly is one of the most well known in art history, his story and life as tragically beautiful as his bold impressionist art work.

Van Gogh was born in the rolling hills of Groot-Zundert, Holland on March 30, 1853. The son of a pastor, he was brought up in a very religious and cultured environment. As a boy, Vincent was categorized as highly emotional, self-conscious, and struggled with his life’s calling. At first, he believed that he was called to preach the gospel message like his father, before discovering his true calling was to be an artist. Between 1860 and 1880, around the time of his blossoming into art, he already had a multitude of failed romances and job prospects.

In 1886 he joined his brother Theo in Paris and got connected with the art community. He tried to copy the style of techniques of other artists but failed in those endeavors as well. The mounting stress, failure, and mental health issues landed him in the asylum in Saint-Remy for treatment. During his time in the asylum, he painted some of the most beautiful and notable art pieces of his career. After he recovered, he continued to paint and express himself through his art.

He was never a successful painter during his life. Selling less than a dozen paintings, living in malnourished poverty, and struggling consistently with mental health. He took his own life with a self-inflicted gunshot wound in 1890, wanting nothing more than to the end of it all.

One of Vincent Van Gogh’s death’s most heartbreaking parts was that he died believing his artwork was worthless. His neighbors, fellow artists, and family members considered him a time-wasting madman. He barely sold any paintings, and left this world thinking he failed. Not knowing that he would become one of the most beautiful and intricate artistic icons of not only the impressionist movement but in most of art history.

When you look at the last three years of Vincent’s art, you see something incredible. His technique grew more and more impassioned, his brushstrokes dramatic and frenzied. His use of color and surface tension was simply mesmerizing. His inimitable work was full of imagination and pure unbridled emotion. Looking at his artwork is like listening to a lonley violin solo or witnessing a dramatic play come to life; it kidnaps your attention and your heart. Through fits of madness and deep depression, Vincent took the pain of life and translated it into a pure ecstasy of color. Pain is easy to portray on a canvas, the blues and blacks like a familiar rhythm tapped on the heartstrings of the human experience. But Vincent Van Gogh took the crushing pain of reality and turned it into the beauty of life.. One of the most dramatic and skilled processes an artist can ever hope to achieve. Vincent did it naturally, genuinely, and honestly. Like puzzle pieces falling together, all leading to the same conclusion, the brilliance of Vincent Van Gogh.

The World’s Best Street Art

Today, many cities commission artists to decorate walls, utility boxes, and selective areas as part of their beautification program. However, there are still artists and gangs around the world leaving their mark on the walls of their neighborhoods. Either way, street art has gained world recognition.

 

Street art has gained popularity in its expressive and uncensored nature. It also allows free viewing for those who are less inclined to visit a museum. Art within the environment is more likely to be seen and appreciated. These are five cities around the world with the most expressive street art.

 

Los Angeles

 

The City of Los Angeles considers graffiti illegal. Bold text and gang tags divide neighborhoods. As a result, L.A. commissions local artists to paint over graffiti and decorate its massive murals with colorful street art. Downtown’s Art District welcomes Latino heritage art on walls under freeways and neighborhoods. Guided tours are available to tourists for a more intimate look at the art on the walls.

 

London

 

North London in Camden or the Leake Street Tunnel near Waterloo are two places where street art is prevalent in London. The street art scene is huge in the neighborhoods of Shoreditch and Hackney. They are London’s locales for spray-painted walls such as Michelin-starred restaurants. Visitors can take a tour of Shoreditch to see London’s best artists.

 

Mexico City

 

Mexico City is the home to the most poetic, political, and traditional street art. Its neighborhoods of Juárez, Roma, and Condesa are known for the giant vivid murals. History and Latino culture are captured on the walls of businesses. Tours guided by graffiti artists are the best way to see Mexican art.

 

Buenos Aires

 

Both international and local artists have left their creative mark on massive murals on the streets of Buenos Aires. Political, traditional, and light-hearted collages adorn various neighborhoods (barrios). The barrios of San Telmo and Colegiales Crespos depict historical urban movements. Guided tours are the best way to connect street art with each barrio.

 

Berlin

 

Berlin’s graffiti-covered walls date back to the Cold War. The hip Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg borough houses the remaining stretch of what was once the Berlin Wall. Today it is known as Berlin’s East Side Gallery where 3-D street art adorns the facades of business and buildings. Visiting this neighborhood is the best way to explore Berlin’s art

Artificial Intelligence Takes on the Art Industry

Artificial intelligence is making inroads into just about every industry. Finance, medicine, and marketing are all being changed by discoveries made with artificial intelligence. One world that most people didn’t expect to be overtaken by AI is the art industry. However, like any other, it is being heavily influenced by the automation and technological advances of AI. Pieces created with neural networks are taking the art world by storm.

 

Just over a year ago, the portrait “Edmond de Belamy, from La Famille de Belamy” sold for over $400,000 at Christie’s in New York. It had been expected to sell for about $7,000 to $10,000. This painting, made with convolutional neural networks, is just one example of how the art world is reacting to artificial intelligence. This new technology is making a bigger splash than many people had expected.

 

Computers use convolutional neural networks to arrange and analyze images. This technology isn’t just used in the art world. It has applications in a number of industries. It’s the same type of artificial intelligence that is changing the way the medical profession interprets images from X-rays and MRI images. CNN uses style transfer. This process changes the tone of an image without changing the content. This is similar to the idea of a filter on an Instagram photo.

 

While some purists are alarmed that AI-created images are sharing space with the work of classical and popular artists, it is important to remember that computer-generated art dates to at least the 1950s. Some artists in the postwar period saw this art as an important antidote to emotional manipulations. For people who had lived through the rise of fascism and Hitler’s propaganda films, an art made without feeling seemed like a relief. It was hard to imagine how such works could be manipulated by politicians, and that seemed comforting.

 

Frieder Nake and Max Bense are some of the important names in that early period of computer-generated art. Although many people today feel that AI-generated art is just a grotesque display of technology, it’s important to remember that many respected art forms started off that way. Today, films are preserved by governments for posterity due to their cultural value. When that industry emerged, it was made up entirely of outsiders. It was considered vulgar. It will be interesting to see how history views AI-generated art.

Spotlight: Switzerland’s New Platform 10 Art District

Every year in Basel, Switzerland, Art Basel presents an exhibition featuring high end works by local artists. This yearly exhibition has turned Switzerland into more than just a blip on the map in the world of contemporary art.

 

This event brings together hipsters with art curators and gallery owners to create a community of passionate and dedicated artists. Due to its overwhelming popularity, there are now two competing art shows held in Hong Kong and Miami Beach.

 

Art has always been a significant part of the culture in Switzerland. Since Art Basel was launched, the fine arts have been treasured throughout the country. As a result. Switzerland boasts world-famous art museums. Some of these museums include:

 

  • Bern’s Zentrum Paul Klee Museum
  • Zurich’s Kunsthaus
  • Lucerne’s Rosengart Collection

 

Currently, under construction, Plateforme 10, set to be the largest museum in Switzerland, will be the next-door neighbor of the Lausanne train station. As the center of the city, it will be a prime spot for tourists to visit.

 

Once it is open for business, the Plateforme 10 is poised to set the city’s definition of an art district. It will hold a total of three museums on its property. These three museums are currently spaced out around the city. The Plateforme 10 will be the new home of:

 

  • Musee Cantonal des Beaux-Arts
  • Musee de l’Elysee
  • Museum of Contemporary Design And Applied Arts

 

In total, the three museums will come together to cover a campus stretching 237,000 feet. As a result, all three museums will have more space in which to display their exhibits.

 

To many, Lausanne is the perfect place for this new museum to open. The city is known as the world’s most free-spirited. As the Canton of Vaud capital, Lausanne borders the French Alps and Switzerland’s famous Lake Geneva. The city exudes the vibes of a young generation. As an artistic hub, it embraces a generation that thrives on their creative spirit.

 

Any art lover owes it to him or herself to plan a trip to Switzerland The Platform 10 District is not to be missed. It is an experience that visitors will never forget.