Making the Connection
When it comes down to it, art acts as a surrogate parent to many. Those who have been hurt, lost a parent, gone through great emotional trauma, etc. are those unusually drawn toward art and its power. If we think about it, it makes perfect sense.
The relationship between art and the wounded is almost mathmatical.
Bono writes about the moment in his life (in the song “the Miracle of Joey Ramone”) when music found him. He was a young, lost boy (his mother had died at a young age) at a Ramone’s concert for the first time when something magical happenned:
“Everything I ever lost now has been returned in the most beautiful sound I’d ever heard.”
Something about the music in that moment “made some sense out of the world.” It translated his pain into freedom and an artistic fuel. He stumbled upon the power of music. Of art. And how his world (and ours) would forever be changed.
What is it about art that has such power to identify with and articulate our suffering? I suppose in many ways it is like a journal entry to the masses (assuming lyrics), but even in the abstract (the music part) deep communication is happening.
In art, we are able to translate into notes and colors the deep emotions that words alone can only begin to articulate. God has given us an infinite palette from which to draw from. There are endless options how to express our inner reality.
The artist is strangely aware (usually early on) of a certain medium that lights up his world. Generally it starts with an innate receptability, a deep intuition to suprisingly enjoy that medium well. Something about it simply clicks and just makes sense.
As we become more aware of this unique “most beautiful sound,” everything else dims. A strange bond has captured our attention and stirred our deepest desire to communicate. We can easily get consumed. Something very deep bursts within us.
This is what I want. This is what I want to do. That much becomes clear.
From there it is about connecting the artist with an audience. Let nothing get in the way of that connection. Something powerful can happen when what separates us is broken down.
One more U2 story. On their 2018 Innocence and Experience tour, band members were somehow projected as silhouetted giants within an enormous widescreen to the entire audience. Untouchable gods. Until a revelatory moment later in the show when the backlight drops and they are shown in actual size.
It is a powerful moment with the chorus refrain repeating: “There is no them (repeated), there’s only us.” They beautifully make the case that artist and audience can deeply be connected.
If the artist can see himself as a servant of the audience, as the giver of a gift freely given, something powerful happens. Artist moves from performer to giver of grace. He becomes a conduit of some deep magic he can scarcely understand or articulate.
