art - the cream of civilisation.

The modern civilisation that started in the 19th Century is a pseudo civilisation as it has produced no great art. What we revere as art in this age is the rantings and ravings of persecuted artists. Instead of rising to spiritual heights on reaching the climax of their work, serious modern artists mostly end up ruining their lives, both physically and mentally. Of course the not serious pretenders survive and flourish in wealth and fame, adding to the chaos of the age.
At the very beginning of this civilisation, there were the dying breed of artists who managed to leave behind some great works like the Renaissance artists and the overshadowed spiritualists of the great traditions such as Indian, Mayan, Egyptian and African, Chinese, Indo-Chinese and every other pre-modern civilisation of the world.
The growth of industries spurred by the spread of European colonial rule categorically destroyed every existing genuine civilisation of the world. The overwhelming greed and lust of the sensual and passionate European and later American populations and their leaders unleashed a populist wave of materialism throughout the world whitewashing the human psyche and standardising human art and culture.
This is the colourless world that we have now inherited.

artistic soul

Can art reach the spirit soul? It certainly would, good art that is. What is art after all if not a spiritual expression especially considering that the essence of the spirit is absolute truth. Is not art concerned solely with absolute truth. Besides the fact that the expression of art is the language of the subtle mind or subconscious which is the vehicle of the soul.

Thus we can say that artists are pure spirit souls, unattached to the material world. We can go one step further and categorise them as transcendentalists who according to the 18th CenturyTamil poet, Subramani Bharathiar (Bharathiar or persona of Mother India) observed that while Subramani was a poor man, Bharatiar was beyond the human condition being seated on a pedestal and watching over the world. It was also Bharatiar who referred to himself as being an immortal.