For a few years now, I’ve noticed that art can be put into two broad categories: static and dynamic. Static art is anything that exists fully on its own once it is finished, such as a painting or a sculpture. Dynamic art requires someone to continually create it, such as a dance or a song.
Neither type of art is better than the other. Both can be beautiful, and they both have their own unique features. Static art is the final physical expression (or at least the closest physical representation) of what the artist had in mind. While other artists may make their own versions, the original remains long after the artist dies. Dynamic art, in contrast, is ephemeral. Musicians all over the world can play a particular piece of music, and, even if they’re all going off of the original composer’s notes, each one will produce a slightly different version. The “original” performance is lost to time; even if it was recorded, that is still a copy of the original, and listening to the playback is quite a different experience than witnessing the original live performance. Also, nobody can ask a deceased painter about his masterpiece, while anyone can talk to a juggler about what’s going on inside him when he juggles and even influence how he juggles by interacting with him. Those features give dynamic art a much greater degree of fluidity and audience interaction than static art could ever have.
Since most of what I’ve done falls under the category of dynamic art, I’m more drawn to that type. I love seeing others do things I can do, whether they do them differently than me or, especially, at a higher level. While I do enjoy experiencing static art, I sometimes enjoy the creative part of it even more than the finished piece. It’s fascinating to watch someone draw, paint, sculpt, and otherwise bring something into being. Something as simple as watching the words appear at the end of a pen when I write has long been intriguing to me. There’s something intriguing about the fact that static art can be completed while dynamic art can never be.
Most museums I’ve been to mainly feature static art. At street fairs, renaissance festivals, and arts markets, dynamic art is the primary attraction. However, both types can also exist in the same place. A museum may have a short film that talks about a particular artist or style of art, and arts markets often have paintings for sale near performers. It’s always nice when the two complement each other.
Pictures and videos make dynamic art more enduring than it once was. I’m so glad for this as it’s allowed me to remember my dog Sawyer more accurately than I otherwise could. I consider him to be both static and dynamic art: he looked cute in static ways by sitting or lying still, and he looked cute in dynamic ways by running around, playing, jumping, and rolling on the ground. I love that his legacy is preserved in both forms. Similarly, I love that I can watch many videos from incredible musicians, jugglers, dancers, singers, and other talented performers of dynamic art who died long before I was born. Although we never walked the Earth at the same time, I can still enjoy their incredible gifts through modern technology alongside the works of past talented painters, sculptors, drawers, furniture makers, and other creators of static art.