Find Inspiration in Art

As a kid any mention of going to an Art Gallery or Museum put me into a cold sweat for fear of inevitable mass boredom.  However, spending time at a college where the majority of students study Art or History of Art has quickly changed my mind on the subject.  Regularly seeing art can change the way you look and treat every aspect of your life in ways which many other entities and pastimes can’t. Once you overcome any personal prejudices with  people associated within both contemporary and even classical art circles, I am a firm believer that going to and observing art can help draw inspiration.

Lucky are those studying in (dare I say) ‘hip’ places like London, New York or L.A where there is a thriving art scene. New galleries and museums exhibitions pop up every day.  You can often be overwhelmed with the amount going on and can find something to do with ease. On the other hand if you are not as fortunate to have such a ‘scene’ you can check out your own schools art department or find the nearest art college to yours to see what events they are putting on or promoting. Information on new events will usually be pinned up and fly-postered everywhere as art students are always looking for new platforms to display their work. Plus they are always happy to get people interested.
 
Whatever you study, be it Politics, English, Maths or Computer science, I believe the benefits of seeing art for a student are especially high. The influence that the observation of art has on making you question everything around you can drastically change the way you think. Questions like What did Picasso mean when he drew that? or What was Titian trying to prove when he did this? And even something as farfetched as Is that spoon really supposed to be a spoon? And if not, what does it represent? These types of questions stay embedded in your mind for ages and will make the way you approach and unravel certain questions and topics such as Political Science or International Relations vastly different from everyone else. Maths and other Technical/Numerical students need not feel left out either as the relationship between art and mathematics has been iron-clad for a millennia, and your ability to capture theories and understand its basis was can often be enhanced.
 
Whilst at an event or gallery try picking up some art literature.  You will often find many free magazines about and can just take a read. Reading the work of many art writers can be highly beneficially to those of you who are taking mainly essay and exam based courses where your writing skills can often be the center point of your grade. The language, passion and atypical writing methods often used can transform the way you write and set your essay about German democracy, Wordsworth Poetry or even Pareto efficiency apart from the rest. It is possible that your new outlook could distinguish your essay from the heap of other identical essays who all made to same arguments.

This is obviously no replacement for actually doing the reading for that essay and understanding the question.  No matter how good your writing is, if you don’t nail all the main arguments for the essay you likely not do so well.  But it does go a long way in helping. If the opportunity to even purchase a piece of work that you like ever arises and you think its worth it then go for it! You never know what unknown piece of art or artist may become extravagantly famous and worth millions tomorrow.
 
Recommended reads:
Ways of Seeing, John BergerGödel, Escher, Bach, Douglas Hofstadter