Lane Rockford Orsak
What is art for you?
As a spectator, when in the company of art that speaks to me, I feel alive, interested and joyous, or it challenges me with compassionate pain demanding that I go deeper to reconsider an idea or belief. It invites me to wake up to the moment, and everything that I am.
While creating art, my process forces me to scrape the bottom layers of my feelings, climb a rough and uneven ladder to the highest vista available, usually on my tip-toes, to find a context or feeling that I value, to then squeeze out old knowledge from a near-empty tube of paint, invite the sound of a spiritual flute or drum, search for the possibility of cohesive expression of an insight, or a form, be it words or paintings, and acquiescing to the magic of the moment.
How are art and creativity connected?
The same way that breathing is connected to spirituality. One is born with an innate level of creativity. Like all areas of the human experience — emotional, intellectual, physical, or spiritual— where you put your energetic focus, there will be an effect. In this case, a creative cause and effect—Art!
Everything affects this process: education, environment, finance, politics, emotion, intellect, and spiritual consciousness. The tricky part is having the audacity, in the face of public opinion, socialization, and the myriad of influences facing all of us in creative pursuit, to allow oneself to have a personal and unique narrative voice, regardless of the medium.
Where do you see art in the next decade?
Over the last three decades global connectivity and visual sophistication has exponentially risen. Art treasures are no longer captive to any one physical location, giving rise to a new powerful digital platform for artistic expression.
Human expression, the desire to share ideas, feelings, and create will probably never die, but due to global warming, scarcity of certain materials, the expense of painting is prohibiting young artists to afford supplies to paint. Two-dimensional art will become less the norm in the future, galleries will be hard pressed to survive, and the trend will be most likely exchange canvasses for digital licenses to view the art an individual chooses. Photography and graphic art will remain relevant, however the most challenging reality for artistic endeavor and success will be trying to maintain a unique voice in a world rapidly becoming socially homogenous.
How art influences society and individuals?
Presently “Wednesday” (Yes, the Netflix series) has danced herself into the homes of the world, and young girls in Paris are immolating her “Goth” style. The Black Lives Matter movement in the U.S., beginning as a social movement to protest abhorrent police behavior, has generated a maelstrom of new “Protest Art,” design, style, and fashion. We have recently seen British Art star, Banksy, painting live on the battlefield in war-torn Ukraine: instantly his art is touching the world opinion about war.
Drag Queens, undeniably express “living art and theater” are challenging decades old ideas about gender, sexuality, masculinity, and fashion. After all, it was the French and British thinkers’ literary works that influenced the Women’s Liberation Movement in the United States, and the world. Art is a critical and integral part of the human experience since we lived in caves: humans use art as a reflection of our very being.
Is there a place for art in business, marketing, advertising, science, technology?
This meteoric rise in global appreciation of composition, design, and production quality due to the internet and media, coupled with the new attention given to form designing consumer goods and technology, greatly influences advertising, marketing, and manufacturing.
Before Apple boss, Steve Jobs (NOT a computer engineer) demanded that their computers looked uniquely designed and that the end-user experience was seamless and “fun,” technology was relegated to only those with thick framed glasses and unattractive footwear! Jobs had the genius to recognize that the formula for cool in the new technology age was for Apple to take-on the complexity on their end, and then delivery “simplicity” byway of artful design principles (clean lines and negative space) …causing simple to be the very definition of “cool!”
He literally transformed the world with art. He, along with so many others, changed the way we communicate, the way we buy music, the way we make music and films, create art, and how we spend our time. I would argue that “Art” is a necessary companion to any cultural, business, scientific mission, or technological endeavor.
Photography and graphic art will remain relevant, however the most challenging reality for artistic endeavor and success will be trying to maintain a unique voice in a world rapidly becoming socially homogenous.
Lane Rockford Orsak
Lane Rockford Orsak
Lane’s early creative life began in Houston, Texas. He studied theater and Liberal Arts and graduated from the University of Texas. He performed for two seasons with the Austin Ballet Theater. He wrote a musical, Mr. Hanks, and was one of only six people in the U.S. outside of New York City to be accepted for audition at the prestigious BMI Lehman Engel Workshop. Lane later lived in Tokyo, working as a language consultant, helping Japanese corporate executives conduct business abroad.
Lane co-owned a boutique-advertising agency before launching his own firm which he ran as Creative Director for sixteen years. In 2009, he began writing books. First came the Keiko the Fairy series: The Kujiki, The Silk Road, and Yonaguni. The books are bilingual, bicultural, coming-of-age stories set in contemporary Japan. It was accepted for consideration at Paramount Pictures’ animation department. Next came an autobiographical novel, Clown White, followed by an adult comedy, Barbella, in 2016, and Dylan’s Divide, in 2018.
Lane currently lives in Austin, Texas. For more information: https://laneorsak.com
Cover photo: Artkontakt