The Art Gene

My brother and another relative had a discussion at to where all the art genes in our family went. We had a couple of older aunts who were fair painters, and a cousin who is a musician . I am not sure if they were just considering drawing, painting, and sculpture or included photography, music, and dance. I am not very sure that any art ability is genetic in the first place. I mean Picasso and some of the other classic artists could have fathered (or mothered) ditch diggers instead of an heir to their art - at least the artists that were interested in women instead of young boys. I’d also read a theory that the father doesn’t pass much if anything along gene-wise. The presence of an art gene seems rather shaky.

At any rate, I don’t think the art genes, if indeed there are any, have totally abandoned my family. My brother learned the guitar, we have a cousin who is a fine musician, my father took some excellent photos, and I can draw and paint a bit. Even had a painting in a show once, though I haven’t done anything since. I wonder if it isn’t so much a genetic deficit as it is a time deficit. You have to make time for whatever art you wish to practice and I find time is in short supply, especially as I get older. I would love to sit and paint, but that just isn’t going to happen. I have even gone so far as to buy some paints, which have been baking for several years in our garage. I suspect the consistency of that paint has suffered somewhat because of the heat.

In conclusion, I would like to say I believe art isn’t dead in our family, just on hiatus. I hope that some day I will be able to retire (as if that’ll ever happen), buy some new paint, and slap it on the canvas. As kind of a bonus, I will probably be too old to see very well so that everything I paint will look great to me.