On the Purpose of Art

<blockquote> <p>"Art does not exist to entertain. It exists to awaken — to shake the soul from its comfortable slumber and ask: what have you done with the gift of awareness?"</p> </blockquote> <br/> <p>This is perhaps one of Ahmad Javaid Sahab's most direct statements on the purpose of aesthetic creation. For him, art that merely pleases has failed its deepest task.</p> <br/> <p>The measure of a poem, a painting, a piece of music — is whether it leaves the person who encounters it slightly more awake than they were before. Art that leaves us comfortable has done nothing. Art that disturbs us toward truth — that is art in its fullest sense.</p>