Artist Statement for Poetry Walk

by Agnes Denes

I believe that the new role of the artist is to create an art that questions the status quo and the direction life has taken, the endless contradictions we accept and approve, offering intelligent alternatives.

My work ranges between individual creation and social consciousness. It addresses the challenges of global survival and is often monumental in scale.

I plant forests on abused land to be kept alive for centuries and fields of grain in the heart of megacities. This work goes beyond just planting a field or a forest, or creating long-range masterplans for large territories in need of restructuring. It is benign problem solving and shaping, structuring the future: an egoless art form that calls attention to social concerns and involves people from all walks of life. It builds pride and self esteem in people and benefits future generations with a meaningful legacy.

This new art form goes beyond the self and the ego without being selfless. It assumes the difficult task of maintaining a delicate balance between thinking globally and acting independently, for the ego must remain intact to allow the self to act fearlessly, with the certainty and confidence necessary for true creation, while the ego must be relinquished in order to think universally, and for the good of others.

In a time when meaningful global communication and intelligent restructuring of our environment is imperative, art can assume an important role. It can offer skillful and benign problem solving and communicate expressions of human values through its metaphors.

Designing space is complicated. We can go inward into inner space and out into the universe. The distance is about the same. In order to understand the space around us both of these journeys are necessary. Some of my work deals with this inner space, visualizing invisible processes such as mathematics, logic, thinking processes, evolution, and so on. Sometimes the philosophy involved in these works is complex, not allowing us to discuss them at length in this writing.

Other works are dealing with very large spaces, large by necessity in order to rebuild our environment and make a difference. As difficult as it is to realize these works, I think it is absolutely necessary to make them happen all over the world as examples of what needs to be done to restore landfills, or destroyed, barren land where resource extraction has taken its toll, and on deforested soil to stop erosion, purify the air, protect fresh groundwater and provide home for wildlife; and in the nervous tension of cities, to give people a chance to stay in touch with nature.

And in works like Poetry Walk, the essence of great minds and ideas are rescued from sinking into dusty memory by being brought into present relevance and fruitful use. Human values expressed with a passion create a lasting impact, they enlighten, motivate and inspire. By uniting different times and disciplines separated by specialization, a new powerful overview appears and young minds are given a chance to see and think. The writers I have selected for Poetry Walk speak my words, lament my laments and dream my dreams. They are there forever to speak to us all.

I believe that artistic vision, image and metaphor are powerful tools of communication that can become expressions of human values with profound impact on our consciousness and collective destiny.

© 2000 Agnes Denes

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