How Your Passion for Art Collecting Transforms the World

You love art.

You love to look at art, be around art, collect art. You enjoy going to art shows and exhibitions and meeting artists. When you stumble upon a new gallery, your heart leaps, and you can't wait to go inside and see what adorns the walls.

Your Instagram and Facebook feeds are filled with art creations and beautiful photography. You have visions of filling every wall in your house with art that has impacted your soul.

But did you know that your obsession with art goes beyond what makes you happy or fulfilled? Did you know that your deep desire for art collecting has an eternal impact and is changing the world?

Trained to See Giants

We have a natural inner need to collect art. We all love to have beautiful things around us and engage in a living dialog with them. When I was a child, my parents had a giant wooden spoon and a fork on the wall. They were almost as tall as me!

I was entranced by this simple concept of an everyday object that is supposed to fit into a human mouth being so oversized. It caused me to wonder. I had a running dialog with the painting every time I looked at it.

I thought, Who are the people who would eat with these giant spoons? How giant are they? Where do they live? How big are their hands? What about the food that fits on these large forks? When they stab a carrot, how big is that carrot? Where do these carrots grow?

It may sound absurd, but this kitschy object from my childhood brought me into an imaginary world of giants every day I looked at it. It opened my heart to wonder and allowed me to dream of an age of giants.

From my youth, I have been programmed to watch for giants.

Now, I have spent my entire career inspiring artists to know the greatness they have inside of them.

Today, as I am writing this for art collectors, I see them as the unsung giants of culture who will help shape our future and unlock doors to new realms with their collections of paintings.

A World Without Wonder

It's a profound notion to dare to think that filling your home with original art can change the world. Imagine a world where art did not exist nor ever existed in the past.

Could we be where we are today? Without wonder, creativity, or imagination, would we fly airplanes? Would the iPhone exist with the capacity to connect us with our friends around the world? Would we even have friends around the world?

Imagine not a cathedral, palace, temple, or synagogue existed. Erase the libraries and universities. What if every photograph and pictorial record of your relatives or history disappeared?

What about when your heart broke over the loss of your first love? What if you couldn't read that poem that made you feel seen, like you weren't crazy?

Can you imagine never hearing a love song, holding a crayon, or seeing a video of your children again?

Can you even comprehend a life without art?

The Purpose of Art

Art is not merely a luxury or an adornment for the mundane; it is the very scaffold of our emotional existence, the repository of our collective human experience. It allows us to feel profoundly, to connect with others across time and space, and to confront our deepest emotions.

Without it, life would not only be less colorful but significantly less comprehensible. We rely on art to articulate the inarticulable, to soothe our aching souls, and to celebrate the pinnacles of joy. It is through art that we truly see ourselves and the world around us with clarity and compassion.

Art Patrons and Their Pivotal Role

Patronage of the arts has been the lifeblood of a thriving culture even from the time we lived in caves. Your passion for art is not a hobby. It is not frivolous or selfish. It is what ensures our lives have purpose, a veneration of Beauty, and the capacity to adapt and evolve.

Without art patrons, artists disappear, creativity ceases, and our world withers into a wasteland.

Yet, why are art patrons the unsung heroes of our beautiful lives? Why is art collecting not taught in schools? Why are there no Oscars for patrons or Nobel prizes for the greatest collectors of our time?

Where is the public recognition of these culture warriors?

Art patrons are pivotal yet overlooked, safeguarding creativity and the promise of freedom. Without their commitment, many artistic voices would remain unheard and lost to time. It's time they receive the recognition they deserve.

In what ways have you seen art collecting impact your community or culture?

Share your story in the comments below!