Art For Art's Sake

I agree that the development of agriculture was a quantum leap for humans, but they had been human for a long time before that, evolving their brains and social structures to the point where they were capable of developing agriculture. Hunting large animals and fighting off rival clans probably taught them how to cooperate for a common purpose and to communicate with each other in order to facilitate that cooperation. Bipedalism likely developed when, for some reason, they decided to come down out of the trees. Maybe the trees became scarce, or maybe some groups had to leave the forest because it was getting too crowded. Once they started ranging the plains, walking upright enabled them to see farther over the tall grass. Then, since they weren't doing anything with their hands, they took to carrying sticks and rocks around.

Art may have started out being just another form of communication, but it developed into something more complicated. It was partly for entertainment, but it was also to express ideas that might be hard to put into words at the time. There also seemed to be an element of pride in it. "Look, see what I can do!" Why else would they make those stencils of their hands? At some point, it took on a mystical or religious meaning, maybe because some people were better at it than others. If you can find a copy of the January, 2015 issue of National Geographic you should read that article about the first artists. You, being an artist yourself, might get more out of it than I did. Even when I was composing simple folk songs I never considered myself to be an artist. I don't know why, maybe because folk music used to be produced by regular folks, which is why they call it folk music.

That's an interesting theory you have about art being used to manipulate people. Most of the people I know, however, don't need to be manipulated to work for a living. Their paycheck is all the inspiration they need to get up in the morning and go off to work, and they wouldn't know the meaning of life if it fell on their heads from the sky.

Happy New Year!