I appreciate any society that values the arts and art in Oslo is alive and well.\u00a0 I’ve mentioned a little about growing up in Franklin, TN on here before.\u00a0 I grew up in a very artistic household in what I would consider a relatively oppressive society by western standards,\u00a0 though everyone there would strongly disagree with that statement.<\/p>\n

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Musica in Nashville (photo by Larry Darling)<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/span>Now, I love art.\u00a0 It’s probably the best thing about being alive.\u00a0 So, you can imagine how refreshing it is to find myself in a society where you cannot walk down the street without running into some manner of art, in Oslo’s case mostly sculpture (many of them nude).<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/span>I’m a particular fan of the aesthetic movement, perhaps due to my beloved Oscar Wilde.\u00a0 The basic idea is that art’s intention should be to add beauty to the world rather than provide some sort of social, political, or moral statement.\u00a0 Art for art’s sake.\u00a0 There are those that argue that the purpose of art is to evoke an emotional response, to make the viewer feel something.\u00a0 I fall somewhere in the middle.\u00a0 I believe that people, especially artist, already feel something and that art exists to make those feelings more palatable and should therefore be beautiful.\u00a0 No one wants to see gritty art designed to upset people because that’s technically “evoking a response”, and people that pretend to are pretentious.\u00a0 There, I said it.<\/p>\n

The great thing about the art in Oslo, aside from it being everywhere and free, was that it was mostly whimsical and existed to add beauty to the surroundings.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span>Vigeland<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span> is the most notable of the Norwegian sculptors and is art occupies Vigeland park and Vigeland Museum,<\/p>\n

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