Arts
&
Crafts

You know,

when a muslim artist or craftsperson seeks to achieve beauty in their work,

the Islamic approach to “how” and “why” can guide them to a greater personal satisfaction in their work,

but at the same time, it is set in a greater context,

communal perceptions of beauty

and allocation of worth and value.

An artist can work within traditions

or try to break them,

but either way, no matter how much personal satisfaction they feel,

the value of their work is outside their hands.

If an artist wants to survive in a community,

they have to learn not just what they like about their work,

but also what makes it worth something to other people.

And in a world where anything can be anywhere,

the natural tendency to follow the money

can easily lead to seeking acceptance

from unfamiliar, yet more wealthy cultures,

which opens up any number of questions

as to what makes something good,

and what makes something valuable.

Muslim artists need to carefully consider their roots and their motives

when fine art is being used in investment portfolios.

The arts and crafts have long been clearly separated from each other in the Euro/US market,

a distinction based on the idea of crafts having a practical value,

as opposed to the more refined intangible value of fine art,

the value of the former is always pulled down

towards its shared usefulness with everyday objects,

while the free floating nature of fine art means it can justify whatever price is appointed to it.

Its only value being whatever people say it is worth.

Financial value is also related related to rarity as well as beauty.

Crafts can range from cheap easily reproduced items

to those requiring extreme skill in the manipulation of materials,

re-imagining the look and shape of a familiar item,

and turning it into a more desirable object in the process.

This may require specialised knowledge of ingredients and processes,

as well as precision,

strength, and control

in the hands of the crafter,

with the rarity that accompanies such skills.

And people are prepared to pay extra

for something rare and exclusive,

that sets them apart.

So crafts products can be beautiful engineering,

or jewellery,

or beauty as fashion,

where hand-crafted designer clothes,

handbags and shoes,

and even trainers,

can have an exalted value, far beyond the reach of the masses,

dependent on little more than exclusivity

and an agreed shared idea of beauty

as expressed by an individual designer.

But the high quality makings of the best craftspeople have always had value.

As a merchant the Messenger specialised in fine fabrics,

and then as now, hand made carpets,

each thread individually knotted in its place,

would have changed hands at great price.

Even now crafts like fabrics and ceramics

can be considered worthy of display in galleries and museums for their artistic worth

and such items may cost hundreds and even thousands,

but what is known as fine art,

art that has no other purpose than display,

can cost millions.

Such artworks are assigned value

because of their perceived cultural significance,

but with that comes the question “Whose culture?”,

and at present, what is seen as “Fine Art”

is largely defined on western terms,

clearly quite distinct from the artistic traditions

associated with the cultural history of the muslim world.

From sketches of animals on cave walls,

Europeans developed that first attempt at representation,

through ever greater skill and subtlety,

practising their art

painting icons and portraits

and still-lifes and landscapes,

with a skill that could claim to be trompe l'oeil.

But then there was a rethink of representation

with impressionism,

then past the found art of Dadaism and other assorted 'ism's,

on the way to complete abstraction

and finally conceptual art,

with the artwork being no more than a focus

for philosophical and theoretical discussion.

Fine art can now be made with no requirement for any kind of technical skill,

yet still be recognised as being of huge cultural artistic value.

But detaching art from craft raises even more questions

as to what is meant by value and worth,

and how they relate to equity and power.

It is part of the nature of creation

that there will always be

those who are preferred over others with regard to wealth.

That is how we define what wealth is.

The concept of monarchy refers to this

a natural relationship between wealth and power.

The inequality may not seem fair,

but without it we would never have had the Taj Mahal,

or any of the other artworks on which the rich and powerful have chosen to spend their money.

But when power shifts from the current first world to a new one,

the cultural context of arts and crafts will inevitably shift

towards a different perception of worth and value.

So what is and is not art of cultural significance in the muslim world

will inevitably raise questions as to what gives arts and crafts their value

in and to the muslim world.

Will muslims accept definitions of worth and beauty

received from their cultural colonisers?

or will they develop new perceptions of artistic value

relevant to the world they live in

yet based on their own visual traditions and heritage.

Clearly the search for beauty

will always beintrinsic to the muslim way of life,

as “God is Beautiful and loves Beauty” said the Messenger.