Ever notice all the things you don’t notice? Just all the random things that we don’t really “see” when we take in our day-to-surroundings? All kinds of things that have artistic value aren’t literal paintings on our walls, and we stare at them or past them every day.
The sheer volume of them can be overwhelming, becoming visual noise, but when isolated, it’s easy to see the art and creativity that went into something as mundane as a food label or company logo. Sometimes we don’t even realize how much art is part of our world until we take the time to really look around at all of it and appreciate it.
In our homes -
Think about how much visual art we consume without even registering it in our brains. Kitchen magnets, food labels, product packaging, stamps on the mail you receive are things that are just sort of there in our homes that we don’t even think of as art.
Movie posters, random decorations purchased via Amazon, album covers, shower curtains...the list goes on and on. Someone actually created those graphics and now here they are, in our living rooms, mixed in with all of our “stuff.”
In our workspace -
Same goes for our workspaces. Whether you’re still working from home or you’re in the office or other workspace a few times a week or every day, you’re surrounded by art there, too.
Maybe you work on a construction site--someone came up with the design for road signs and the font for the “Slow/Stop” sign. If you work in a dental office, those plastic models and all the diagrams? Someone designed and created those shapes and graphics.
Wear a uniform? Check the label inside--chances are there’s a logo of the manufacturer on a tag inside the garment; someone drew that graphic at one point that became the company brand symbol. Still, art!
In our everyday lives -
Wherever we go, wherever we look, there are examples of art. At a ballgame, we see banners with company logos and slogans on them, ads for other events, team graphics, even ticket stubs used to feature team logos. At music concerts we often see people wearing concert t-shirts emblazoned with cover art or other graphics.
We may witness pyrotechnic shows at said concerts--another form of visual art.
It’s fun to look around and rediscover all the imagery around us and the visual creativity expressed by artists that we don’t even think about. It can be a source of artistic inspiration, a way to slow down and center yourself, or simply a rich visual tapestry that makes up the background of our life.
Don’t forget to look closely at all of it, and for a moment acknowledge all the beautiful things people have created for your viewing pleasure. Art is all around us, all the time.