Probably not in the same practical way. You cannot eat a painting. A sculpture will not pay your electricity bill. A necklace will not stop a missile.
And still, human beings have been creating art for thousands of years. Even in caves. Even during wars.
Even when life was much harder than now and there was definitely no online gallery, no Instagram and no search for “original abstract paintings for sale.”
So maybe art is not a luxury after all. Maybe it is one of the strange things humans need in order to remain human.
Why Do I Keep Creating?
I have asked myself many times why I do it.
Why do I paint? Why do I sculpt? Why do I make jewelry?
Why do I play Taiko drums, sing, dance, compose music and sometimes try to do all of it in the same week?
The honest answer is not very intellectual.
I do it because I cannot not do it. I can try to be sensible. I can clean the studio, answer messages, organize my catalog and behave like a responsible adult.
But eventually something begins to move inside me.
A thought.
A sound.
A color.
A feeling I cannot explain in normal words. And then I need to put it somewhere.
Sometimes it goes into a canvas. Sometimes into metal. Sometimes into rhythm. Sometimes into my voice.
Art is not a hobby I selected from a menu.
It is the way I process being alive. What I Cannot Say, I Paint There are emotions that become smaller when you explain them.
You say “I am afraid,” but fear is much bigger than these three words.
You say “I am angry,” but anger may contain grief, love, disappointment and hope at the same time.
You say “I miss someone,” but this sentence does not show the empty chair, the remembered voice or the strange silence that follows.
This is where painting begins for me. I can place all these contradictions on one canvas.
Red can fight with black. Blue can open a space to breathe.
A line can break. A form can disappear and return.
No one needs to translate it. The painting knows.
This is why emotional abstract paintings can speak so directly. They do not explain emotion. They carry it.
Perhaps this is also why people searching for contemporary Israeli art often stop in front of one work and feel something before they understand anything.
The body reacts first. The mind comes later. Sometimes much later.
Art Is Not Only Beauty. People often think art should be beautiful. I disagree.
Art may be beautiful, of course. But it may also disturb you. Make you angry. Make you remember something you carefully forgot.
Make your very elegant living room slightly less polite.
I consider this a compliment.
A home should not look like nobody lives there. And art should not behave like a quiet decorative object that is afraid to interrupt the furniture.
Original art has a presence. It creates a relationship with the person who lives beside it.
Some days you love it. Some days it challenges you. Some days you suddenly notice a detail you have not seen for years.
That is why owning original art is different from buying a print only because the colors match the sofa. One fills a wall. The other enters your life.
Do People Need Artists?
This is another dangerous question. Maybe people do not need artists every day. Until they do.
When a country celebrates, artists give it songs, images, movement and symbols.
When a country suffers, artists help preserve what happened emotionally, not only historically. A report can tell you how many buildings were destroyed.
A painting can show you what fear felt like inside one human being. A newspaper records events. Art records the soul of the event.
Living in Israel, I feel this very strongly. The distance between ordinary life and tragedy can be one phone notification.
We learn to drink coffee while checking the news. We celebrate birthdays under uncertainty.
We make plans because refusing to plan would mean giving fear too much authority.
As an artist, I carry these contradictions everywhere. Into my paintings. Into my sculptures.
Into Taiko performances.
The drum becomes another language. One strike can hold rage. Another can hold courage.
Then the rhythm changes, and suddenly there is joy. Not because pain disappeared. Because life is still here.
What Art Gives Back
When someone stands in front of my work and becomes quiet, I understand why I continue. Maybe the person sees something I never intended.
Maybe the painting brings back a memory. Maybe it gives shape to a feeling they could not name. At that moment, the work is no longer only mine.
This is the strange exchange between an artist and a collector. I put part of myself into the work. Someone else recognizes part of themselves inside it.
This connection cannot be manufactured. It cannot be copied exactly.
And it cannot be ordered from a catalog of “unique art pieces online” with a guarantee that it will match your curtains.
It either happens or it does not. But when it happens, you know.
So, Do We Really Need Art?
I think we do. Not because every wall must be filled. Not because collecting contemporary art makes a person more sophisticated.
Although, to be fair, it often improves the conversation at dinner. We need art because facts are not enough.
Efficiency is not enough. Survival is not enough. We also need meaning.
Memory.
Imagination.
Beauty that is not perfect.
Questions without immediate answers.
We need places where our emotions can exist without being corrected, measured or explained.
For me, creating art is not a decision I make every morning. It is closer to breathing.
I paint because I cannot leave my thoughts inside.
I play Taiko because some feelings need to be louder than words.
I sculpt because sometimes an idea needs a body.
I make jewelry because beauty can also live close to the skin.
All of it is one conversation.
With the world.
With people.
With myself.
Perhaps nobody needs every artwork I create.
But somewhere, one person may need one of them. One painting may enter one home and become part of one family’s life.
One sculpture may stay with someone through years of change. One rhythm may remind someone that they are still alive.
For me, that is enough reason to continue. If You Feel Something, Come Closer
If you are looking for contemporary Israeli artists, original abstract paintings for sale, modern art in Israel or Nikita Ben Ami artworks, you are welcome to explore my collection online or visit my gallery in Netanya.
But do not come only to choose something for a wall. Come to see whether something chooses you.
Because perhaps the real question is not whether people need art.
Perhaps the question is:
What happens to us when we live without it?
With love,
Nikita Ben Ami
Explore the collection:
www.nikita-artist.com
