Does Art Matter?

             CRB at the Kelvingrove Museum, Glasgow Scotland

Art, in the long run, doesn't actually exert much of an influence on anyone outside of the very small circle of the artistically inclined. For the most part, it's the Scientists, the Engineers, the Biologists, the Doctors, who not only get things done, but get things done that benefit the human race in the long run, that have a lasting influence on the human race.

Artists create distractions, that's it. Very, very few artists have done much else. Da Vinci, that universal mind who thought of so many wonderful things, left but 15 or so paintings (though quite a few sketchbooks) as an artistic legacy. His genius is widely acclaimed and recognized, however, he had very little effect on the course of history or on the human race as a whole, primarily because he kept a lot of the revolutionary scientific ideas he had come up with to himself, and also because his art, while great to look at, was simply not much more than that - great art to look at.

Artists, no matter how innovative, prolific, or original, have not really provided anything that has helped the human race evolve as a species. A case could be made, a strong case, that the artistic community has actually held the human race back at times with it's tendency for maudlin nostalgia.

There are of course artists who have been forward thinking, but most of those have been commercial artists, and as such get the short end of the stick from the artistic community.

Artist such as Ralph McQuarrie, Kafi Benz, Mike Hinge, and myriad others all had visions of the future, and many of them produced works that sparked the imaginations of many, many others - but as far as recognition from the art community...sorry, those artists actually choose to earn a living. No soup for you!

Which is an odd hypocrisy from the modern-day art world, as it's full of ego's that demand self-reliance, self-determination, and self-realization...but only so long as they are able to do so at public expense.