Art as a modern form of therapy

Art has longtime proved to be a source of wonder for mankind. Objects venerated by the ancients now hold court over the most visited museums, and the images of classical pieces, such as the Mona Lisa, have matriculated into everyday life. As man’s oldest form of expression, art continues to provide humans with a means of self-expression, as well as what experts say is a therapeutic channel for addressing the complexities of the modern world.

Errki Huhtamo, UCLA professor of media history and theory, said the values we ascribe to art are largely dictated by human culture.

“I don’t believe in universal aesthetics,” he said. “The way we evaluate beauty is always linked to culture, something learned.”

Take the Mona Lisa, for example. Often referred to as the most famous painting in the world, Leonardo DaVinci’s piece has been replicated on postcards, T-shirts and coffee mugs, and has been modified by various contemporary artists, not to mention its role as the backdrop for innumerable tourist photos at the Louvre Museum in Paris.

Huhtamo likened this phenomenon to families taking pictures of themselves in front of their TV sets in the 1950s and ’60s ““ a ritual that he said serves as a form of identity expression, and links certain values to the subject of the photo and the international icon in the background.

“The appreciation of art has become a part of tourist culture. To which extent does it have to do with aesthetic appreciation, and to which does it have to do with social semiotic ideas about self estimation?” said Huhtamo, about the ways many people value the iconographic aspect of many works of art.

Walter Benjamin wrote in a 1936 essay that the aura of art was being destroyed by this newfound reproducibility made possible by technological advances. But Huhtamo said he doesn’t think it is necessarily a negative thing, identifying the Mona Lisa as a source of inspiration for kinetic culture and imagination.

The capacity for art to act as a vehicle for expression and communication is its greatest merit, Gregory Leskin, professor of clinical psychology and liaison for UCLA and the National Center for Child Traumatic Stress, said.

Artistic expression serves therapeutic purposes in the opportunities it fosters for creativity, Leskin added, saying it furnishes individuals with a sense of freedom and control.

“Making things and creating things is tied into a sense of optimism, a sense of hopefulness, and sharing one’s experiences with others,” he said. This is especially valuable to those who have gone through a traumatic event and who have difficulty expressing themselves verbally, Leskin said.

“Being expressive of one’s experience provides cohesion, a sense of beginning and end, and a sequence or order of experience,” he said.

This provides a tangible way for humans to share their feelings with others, he added, noting that victims of a traumatic event can better accept care if they feel they are understood.

For example, Picasso’s painting “Guernica” evokes the psychological situation of a human in battle and the difficulty of recovering emotionally, Leskin said, explaining his analysis of the painted scene.

“Picasso transformed the experience of the bombing to create what some people see as a political statement against war, but it’s much more significant than that ““ it’s about the rituals that allow us to go forward and heal as a society,” he said.

Huhtamo echoed this in saying that art plays a special communicative role that deals with the “surplus value” of culture, and is never solely concerned with making a propagandist statement.

Nicole Aponte, a third-year art student, said something about art functions differently than words do for her. Though the message of her work may be abstract, she expresses emotion and ideas though color and imagery.

“I use it as a way of escape in the way that other people use exercise, “ she said.

Huhtamo reiterates the idea that “art is open speech” to his students, something that sets it apart from goal-oriented processes, he said.

“When you watch a Hollywood movie, in the end you want to know who died, who got married, the conclusion. Great art is never about closure, never wants to be emptied out. It’s the opposite of that ““ it’s a place that opens up our ways, makes sense of our surroundings, of our identities, about the universe,” he said.