“Art must bring its unique perceptual sensibility to every system, whether productive, organisational, or political, to carry out the “composition” of the various parts, understood as harmonious elements of the civil concert. The lack of this sensibility is the cause of the sclerosis of every individual organism. Above all, artists must not be only in art galleries or museums—they must be present in all possible activities. The artist must be the sponsor of thought in whatever endeavour people take on, at every level, from that of the “masses” to that of “command”.”

— Art’s Responsibility, Michelangelo Pistoletto

Everyone wants to be an artist nowadays. How frustrating. Who has not heard this sentence in at least one occasion – be it an exhibition, a business lunch or a coffee break in the studio? The point is, as with any generalisation, that there is some truth behind a superficial outlook. The point is, as with most idealised professions, that an artist’s role is not just walking around museums and expressing any mental velleity. An artist in 2021 cannot merely be a person that creates beauty. In our markedly consumeristic times, most commercialised objects are crafted to be beautifully designed. Our unquenchable thirst for beauty can now be temporarily placated by most objects, thus artists reflecting on the contradictions around them have quickly realised that there were open issues elsewhere.

No wonder art has evolved towards languages that at a first glance might be defined as ugly. No wonder art does not respond to the same needs it used to satisfy in Renaissance, for instance. No wonder art is more and more often escaping the closed walls of museums to embrace the potential of open air locations and inhabited streets. No wonder art is gradually infiltrating through the cracks of everyday hustling and bustling rather than requiring people to purposely allocate time for exhibition visits. The intrinsic nature of art is to adaptively respond to social problems and fill the gaps, compensating–or at least trying to compensate–the rampant dissatisfaction and the pervasive detachment from one another.
For the reason above, though the glamorous allure linked with an artist’s lifestyle attracts more and more aspiring artists, not all of those who try actually turn out to be apt for the pressing rhythms of the artistic sector. The point is an all round artist in our time has to embody her message and diffuse it in a fashion similar to an incense stick. The most influential personalities in the art scenery of the past decades tend to be visibly consumed by their mission, ageing and burning faster than most of their contemporaries.
What do they have in common? They do not merely create and sell well crafted artworks. They do so because the urgency of communicating is compelling to the point that it has to be released through some medium complementary to their mere act of living–an act that, though paralleled by an artistic production, is still powerfully imbued with an aura of spiritual energy. An artist’s message, rooted in continuous and reference-based reflection, is expressed by any act or choice she undertakes and is spread to all cultural levels ready to perceive it. Both towards the masses external to the art niche and to the insiders. Because actually most times, an artist’s message stems from a need that is perceived by herself first–only later emanating towards other humans.

The language of art, obviously, is ever evolving according to the needs peculiar to a specific generation. The purpose of art, however, remains unvaried: bringing together all the unsynchronised units that make up society in front of their shared issues. Forcing these schizophrenic particles to pause before a voice that all of them, consciously or unconsciously, need to hear.