Betyond Experience

Marco A. Recto

1143781 Humaart V26

Art: Imagination Beyond Experience

Different people will have different perspectives and opinions on whether art is a product of experience or imagination. Some may say experience because through it, what they have seen, heard, or felt is what will give them the idea and inspiration to create something. Others will say these two are needed as they work side by side. For me, art is indeed a product of imagination, a lot more so than it is a product of experience. Conventional definitions, including our experience of the world, tell us that art typically takes the forms of paintings, pictures, and sculptures – usually those that take material form. Imagination tells us that dancing, martial arts and even the simplest of movement are also considered art forms. Herein lies a major difference between experience-based art and imagination-inspired art.

Allow me to expound a bit more. One certainty is that experience is limited to the senses of a person, whereas imagination can go infinitely beyond that. Imagination itself does not require experience. It is the ability to think of something without having to use any of the human senses. It may even go beyond our perception of reality.

The world of physical reality has its limits while the world of imagination is boundless. Imagination sees what our eyes do not. During the medieval times for example, there were no such things as engineers or architectures but instead, people with the idea of high walls made of concrete were the ones that built castles. The earliest of artists like Michael Angelo had no blueprints nor guidelines for chiseling statues yet he created one of the most detailed sculptures of a human figure in his time. During Leonardo Da Vinci’s era, the only means of transportation that existed were horses yet he looked beyond and created the first designs of the cars, ships, and planes that we use today; all through the power of his...