Enhance your curiosity by embracing the beauty that surrounds you.
Curiosity is one of life’s greatest human resources. And yet, everyday distractions (see: the news, social media, and busy jobs) can prompt days, weeks, or even months without fully tapping into your sense of wonder. Art may be the perfect antidote for an increasingly frantic lifestyle and, fortunately, you don’t need to seek out a museum or a gallery to find it. Art (and curiosity) is all around you.
“Curiosity is a basic human attribute,” says Michael Gervais, the senior director of group fitness programming & content at Equinox as well as the creator of HeadStrong Meditation. “It's that impulse to seek new information, cultivate new experiences, and explore new possibilities.” There are many reasons to prioritize curiosity. “Research has shown curiosity to be associated with increased positive emotions, lower anxiety, and more satisfaction with life. It makes you feel more connected to the world and more empathetic to experiences outside of your own,” says Gervais.
According to painter and gallerist Clayton Calvert, it’s the artist’s job to stimulate your curiosity. “Without curiosity, I don't believe good art exists,” he says. “If you went around the world and just saw everything for what it was, and you weren't able to kind of see beyond that, it might get a little boring. The role of the artist is to come in and create ideas or objects and just really show you possibilities of what's around you — and how you can draw inspiration.” In other words, there would be no art without curiosity and no curiosity without art.
Art is very much at our core as human beings.
That said, Calvert doesn’t exclusively mean capital-A “Art” that’s hanging in a museum or gallery. “Go to a street corner and look up, and you'll find yourself in this moment of looking at these crazy architectural details when most people just walk right by,” he says. A garden, park, or beautifully designed house in your neighborhood can also be a source of creativity. Just make sure you’re taking a long enough look.
“I think there's a statistic out there that, on average, people look at the Mona Lisa when they're in the Louvre for like 12 seconds,” says Calvert. “This is one of the most famous pieces of art in the entire world, and yet people aren't concerned enough to get up close and personal with it and really try to experience it. So I think if you just take a little longer and really kind of dive into the idea, you’ll find yourself incredibly present and enriched by that experience.”
RELATED: The Healing Power of Museums
Instead of taking a quick glance, then moving on, Calvert recommends lingering a bit longer (and avoiding reading the plaque beside the painting or Googling the architect, if you’re looking at a building). “I actually like to look at the [art] without reading the wall text at all. When you remove the context of the piece, you start to see it as an object, and you start to try to get your own mind in there,” he says.
As you stand in front of the piece, notice your reaction. Do you like it? Find it interesting? Hate it? Now dig a little deeper. Get curious about why you’re reacting the way you are. “It's really important to challenge yourself when looking at art,” says Calvert. “You'll be surprised at the things you'll connect with and why you're connecting with it. Art is very much at our core as human beings.”