Through Art — Into the New Year / 2025

A quarter of the 21st century has already passed, gifting us with instant connection, access to a boundless ocean of information, and a vast array of tools and technologies for study and realization of ideas. Humanity can fly into space and return, descend to the deepest ocean trenches, and share news, experiences, and emotions from different corners of the planet.

Technology grants us endless possibilities, but alas, it has not taught us harmony in coexistence with one another. This becomes especially evident when observing people’s reactions to art — that mirror which artists hold up before the viewer, reflecting our most intimate feelings and convictions.

For many, art becomes an object of devaluation. Most of all, for those unfamiliar with context — those who have not studied the materials, nor understood the themes, tools, and their particularities with which the artist worked. All too often, to my regret, I witness in galleries and museums a barely concealed desire of the viewer to elevate themselves through crude irony, criticism, and mockery — coupled with a certain satisfaction in knowing they can do so without risk, safe in the assurance that they will not be struck for belittling another person’s labor and revelation.

Yes, initial reactions are, of course, often sincere. But do they truly characterize the artwork itself? My experience suggests otherwise: a viewer’s reaction to art is more often a reaction to themselves, to their own beliefs and way of perceiving the world. Those with real depth of experience and visual literacy pass indifferently by works that do not speak to them, pausing instead before those pieces that can enrich their sensibility and offer fresh perceptions.

In the new year 2025, I wish us all greater kindness — toward ourselves and toward others. I call on everyone to visit museums and galleries more often, to gaze into that magical “mirror” of art and gain a deeper understanding of the world and of ourselves. Through galleries and museums, you will learn no less about current agendas than from the news feed. And I warmly encourage you to start your own art collections — not only to shape your own universes, but also to support the artists who make this world more beautiful, now more than ever.