High-Brow, Low-Brow, No-Brow...

I received the included images from our partners in London, architects Paul Brady and Eng-Ling Ho. They were taken at the recent Anish Kapoor exhibition at the Royal Academy in London, which they attended, and seemed to much enjoy, with their two children. Looking at the photos, with their almost Kertesz like reflections/ distortions, reminded me about how art, any art, can inspire and stimulate us all regardless of age, background or education. This type of events, installations, interventions need to be accessible to everyone. Art, architecture and design should never only be for the artist, architects and designers, but (as they inevitably are) need to be something we're all exposed to. Simply their presence, even on a indirect or subliminal level, inspires us, provokes our curiosity and wonder. They introduce us to new paradigms of ideas, catalyse syncretic amalgamations, delight, disgust, surprise us. They provoke wonder at a myriad of subtle levels, ranging from mild/ fleeting curiosity to ones skin crawling and giving one goose-bumps. Art can, and should, affect one in a intuitive as well as empirical way (and can often do so simultaneously) - arouse us to both feel and think. Art should always provoke, raise questions, never be fully agreed on - it should avoid excessive consensus. Its role is universal - it can exist anywhere where decisions are made - yet it is also ethereal which, due to its presence on a more intuitive and ephemeral level, can easily be dismissed and its value down played. Nevertheless, its being cannot be dismissed as its ubiquity permeates everything we do. It's in our lives, our faiths, our lifestyles, our jobs, our daily activities and discourses. It's all at once high-brow and low-brow - no-brow, and that's the way it should be. It's existence and importance needs to be acknowledged though, as without recognition it dissipates, and our lives end up poorer without it...

All photos by the Bradys...