Because the dead ones don’t need it!

Do you want to buy art in order to live a more personal and inspiring life? Or maybe you are a patron who wants to promote art and the work of the artist? Or maybe you want to offer your employees and guests a special atmosphere in your company? Whatever the cause: buy art from artists that are alive!

Invest in contemporary young art, maintaining, promoting and keeping this cultural asset alive. Art is the creative principle of the world. Life is art. In other words: what would life be without art?!

It is important, for the sake of your personal and the social wellbeing, to surround yourself with art – with contemporary art that reflects current events, takes up issues of being human and tells our story. Embedded between the past and the future, contemporary art shows us what perturbs and concerns us. And what people, gods and worldviews we make of ourselves.

Whether consciously or unconsciously, whether actively or passively – you shape the current situation. Whether you like it or not, whether by your doing or your failure to act – you shape the zeitgeist.

Art and Education

Our education system is hardly geared towards promoting art and creativity. Even in the young and formative years, the functionality of our left brain, that is, our analytical understanding, is excessively trained, while the potential of the right brain, our creative understanding, is ignored and undermined by this pre-programmed imbalance. At this point, I do not want to go into more detail about the unfortunate consequences when lacking aesthetic education. Instead, I would like to remind you of the verbal connection between image and education.

Fine art forms! The language of images has a wayward effect and power on our psyche. We originally think in pictures, which is why our verbal language is full of symbols, motifs, metaphors and allegories. Thinking in pictures is a quality that has been preserved for people who are not left-brain-minded. Brain research has proven this with numerous studies. From an evolutionary perspective, it was first the picture, then the word and only later did numerical thinking develop.

Images are only supposedly silent and wordless. A picture says more than a thousand words – this well-known wisdom is undisputed and addresses the subtle level of non-verbal communication. Art pictures promote communication and creativity, non-verbally. It is only then that an exchange of views about this with others takes place.

Art and Seeing

Artworks show us unusual perspectives and other viewpoints, while always referring to the invisible within the visible. Similarly, there is a wise phrase that draws our attention to the importance of the unsaid in what is said: reading between the lines.

Nothing else can help us reflect the way artwork can. Art can help us to sensitize and train our own ability to reflect, that is, our vision, when we are ready to get involved. Since I know about the underestimated power of art and know the wholesome aspect of art, as an art consultant and mediator (also as a philosopher and educational scientist) I am vehemently committed to promoting creativity and art.

Art is the world of intuition, imagination and inspiration – these are the higher forms of thinking. Art is the result of a creative process and reminds us of the creative power inherent in all of us. It also strengthens one of our most important qualities – the ability to feel beauty. Anyone who maintains the ability to sense beauty will not fall for a narrow-minded black and white way of thinking.

The original intention of the think big culture stems from the fact that we wanted to free ourselves from our mental prisons. In order to think big, we have to broaden our understanding of art and beauty as well as our concept of thinking and seeing. We have to change our deadlocked thinking habits and engage with new perspectives.

What really does interest me in this context: Can the beautiful polarize and incites us, irritate, provoke and reinvent our way of thinking? Of course, it is also about the art of seeing and ultimately about the art of living. Beyond think big & think positive!

Art and Statement

When you buy contemporary art, it shouldn’t be about speculation gains in the first place. The greatest benefit of the investment should be the joy of living with art and enriching your everyday life with it. What really matters is your daily enjoyment of it, including the joy you share with your people and guests. The highest value of a work of art – beyond the market value and determining trends – should be determined by yourself; by the meaning that the artwork has for you because you like it.

Art can cultivate your life  – in a private as well as in a business context – while at the same time it underlines your personality and your own style. With a work of art you can make a statement and take a position. Walls speak volumes when meaningful works of art meet personality, design and lifestyle. Say it with art!

Nothing is as unique as a work of art created with dedication and passion by an artist. The thoughtful artist is worth a thousand times more to me. That’s why I sell art. And I sell wisdom.

Ilknur Özen
Art Advisory & Mediation
M.A. Philosophy & Educational Science