Manifesto is currently available in a larger
collection of essays by Erik L. Moore through
Seeing Through™ Press.
The Conscious Art™ movement exists to
promote the conscious use of art. It was started
in the late 1980s by Erik Moore when he wrote
the first Conscious Art™ Manifesto. While the
conscious creation and critique of art may seem
obvious, a great deal of art in many movements
actually avoid this. Instead they develop style
based on an indescribable "feel"; veneration of
ideas or personalities; reveling in the
mysterious; or mimicking a style, thereby avoid
the personal responsibility to directly address
meaning, or considering the interpretations of
the work in a broad context. While each artwork
is unique, with it's own evolving message, art is
made in context. It does have both intent from
the artist and impact on the society in which it is
presented. Understanding that intent and
impact enhances our experience.
The Conscious Art™ Movement promotes art
that engages the artist, their audience, and
society in an open dialogue. It advocates
creating art in a way that leads to development
in understanding and insight through the
application of reason, insight, and personal
responsibility. Conscious Art™ is open about
the ideas that are involved in making any art,
and invite the audience to explore, rather than
closing off exploration when an artwork is
complete.
There are many valuable types of artwork that
are not Conscious Art™. This movement is not
intended to diminish there value, but to promote
added value in new work, to promote informed
creativity and critique, and to encourage the
use of artwork as a way of working together to
make our global society better.
It is all too easy to go through a gallery and say,
"I like this...Oh I don't like that." This attitude is
not useful except in treating art as a
commodity. Art can be so much more valuable
if it is engaged as a communications where both
artist and audience reach out in intellectual and
emotional discourse.
The same is true of the artist's own internal
dialogue. Working to refine a style or motif with
only a gut response of "Oh this is better..Oh
that's junk" uses only a small part of our
intellectual resources, and only partially
engages us. The Conscious Artist does not
operate intentionally naive of their surroundings
or personal motivations. Instead, the
Conscious Artist works towards being informed
and aware of relevant traditions, towards
responding to the impact of their artwork, and
towards a relationship of mutual growth and
understanding with the audience.
contains the
Conscious Art™
Manifesto along
with many other
essays.
art to greater effectiveness, relevance, and value. All pages © 2004 Erik Moore.
