Art History Class (for Mental Health)

“Art is the hole which the needle of life threads itself through every time”

A physicist told me that. A man who helpeddevelop the laser, who could not have been further from the art world if he had tried. Someone constitutionally allergic to anything he considered “frivolous.” And yet this line — his line — has stayed with me for years.

How could someone so uninterested in art be so certain that art is, in fact, essential? Paramount. Necessary to humanity.

So if art really is the hole the world threads itself through to be understood, maybe we ought to look at mental health through that same aperture. And honestly, I’m backed by aphysicist,so read on good skeptic.

The Body as Medium (And How Uncomfortable Are You Already?)