Albert Scaglione answers “what is art?” in the Huffington Post
Park West Gallery founder and CEO Albert Scaglione.
The Huffington Post and Park West Gallery Founder and CEO Albert Scaglione examine how art, or even the shape of everyday objects like a door, can shape our lives. This begs the question: What is art?
In the post “Can a Lie Reveal Truth? Or What is Art?” Suna Senman explores how even the design of a room can affect a person’s mood and feelings, such as how a theater focuses the audience’s attention on a scene of action, and how art touches our lives.
Scaglione recalls one of his favorite sayings from Picasso, that art is a lie, but it is a lie by which we know the truth. The article then quotes Scaglione himself, who tells us the following:
“Art gives us a way to not only express creativity, but to also express truth and individuality.”
Scaglione’s own journey with art shows how even a simple gift of art can leave a lasting impression. He worked at a gallery for two summers, saving up his money to purchase a work of art for his parents. He never forgot how grateful they were for the gift.
Years later, his passion for art was so strong that he left his career in mechanical engineering and opened Park West Gallery in 1969. Today, the gallery continues Scaglione’s passion for sharing art by bringing it to the public through art auctions on over 100 cruise ships.
When considering what art is, the article alludes to how it is among the best methods of communication, especially when it comes to demonstrating the tragedies that war and violence produce. This aspect of art is particularly poignant in light of the terrorist attacks in Paris in November 2015.
“Artists have been our moral conscience; … For centuries artists have been harbingers of peace in a turbulent and often violent world,” Scaglione says. “Being involved with art in any manner, whether observing, enjoying, discussing or expressing will lead people to peace and harmony.”
In the article, Senman notes that art connects “diverse thought, cultures and religions, generations link together through the inner expressions of love, truth, beauty, pain, betrayal and recovery in the manifestations of sculpture, architecture, paintings and other snapshots of life.”
The article even touches on how art improves the lives of others. As an example, Scaglione says artist Yaacov Agam developed a program of visual education for children that increases a child’s ability to learn at a young age.
Read the whole article here, and be sure to check out the Huffington Post story on how Scaglione founded Park West Gallery.
