“Art is Jealous…”
-Vincent van Gogh

“Every work of Art is Jealous; to appreciate it right, you must for the moment appreciate it singly, without thought of another”

-De Witt Henry Parker

“Your Art is jealous of its independence, because it is great.”

-Paul N. Miliukov

“We are all pieces of art – some trite, others grandiose, some misunderstood, others noticed – and we insist other’s attentions, or become other’s attention whether we warrant it or not, as we walk the largest gallery of our era – Earth.”

-Damon Jasso

Routinely, one afternoon, my students were writing down their mandatory examples of metaphors and similes, and I came across a peculiar, short metaphoric phrase that demanded explanation rather than rote memorization for my students and me. “Art is jealous,” a simple metaphor for my students – for I used it as merely an example – as usual, my students put me on the spot for an explanation. Furthermore, my new teacher Ms. C was in the room, observing me in action, no pressure for I believe at times my wit is like a safety device that always releases when I need it the most, and I thought for a succinct moment and came up with this scenario of personification sodden with human emotions that made that simple phrase, Art is jealous, “authentic” on many levels of comprehension.


Figuratively speaking, imagine you are in an Art gallery-- any one you choose. Inside there are hundred of pieces of art and each is either conveying an emotion, telling a story, warning society, ugly, misunderstood, or just beautiful to the beholder. Despite their intentions, each piece of art means something different to the viewer. Moreover, if each piece of art contains a different meaning, for each individual that gazes upon their majesty in their own subjective reverie; therefore, why is Art jealous? Simple, Art demands our attention within it’s small confines of the museum, in that, paintings spread out like ornaments on a Christmas tree within a museum, due to maximizing layout space or, perhaps, paintings increasing faster than the space alloted in the musuem, and each one want shines with brilliance and grace and pleads the viewer to glaze upon them and only them with some things that are equally precious –the viewers' time and understanding.


Likewise, similar to Art, we are pieces of art that also demand time and understanding – whether to ourselves or to others– and the world is the largest spinning art gallery, in my opinion. This idea came to me the other day while writing a Christmas letter to a deserving, special friend. This is not a complex idea, or cyptic message, for we are each unique individuals and our lives merit comparisons to art. In addition, Life is art itself – and that is how many achieve immortality from their works— by living their lives and contributing to society whether good or bad -- similar to a bad or a stupendous painting -- for this depends upon the subjective viewers. Furthermore, most individuals make our lives in one place, a gallery that could be a town, country, or state, but there are others that travel the entire Earth like a painting that travels around the world for all to see. Within these outlined reasons of art and individual, we are all a piece of art that others look at for our qualities, strengths, or aesthetic nature. Subconsciously or consciously, individuals all desire attention from our goals, titles, lives – from patient spouses, parents, family, business, and other examples of self-realization and self motivation. In parallel to art, paintings also want attention within their galleries. My advice to everyone— students, friends, readers— live life as if you are a fine painting for we all deserve attention and understanding and we all are unique regardless of what the society might tell us otherwise.

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