The Conscious Art™ movement exists to promote the conscious use of art.  It was started in the late 1980s by Erik Moore when he wrote the first Conscious Art™ Manifesto.  While the conscious creation and critique of art may seem obvious, a great deal of art in many movements actually avoid this.  Instead they develop style based on an indescribable "feel"; veneration of ideas or personalities; reveling in the mysterious; or mimicking a style, thereby avoid the personal responsibility to directly address meaning, or considering  the interpretations of the work in a broad context.  While each artwork is unique, with its own evolving message, art is made in context.  It does have both intent from the artist and impact on the society in which it is presented.  Understanding that intent and impact enhances our experience.  

 

The Conscious Art™ Movement promotes art that engages the artist, their audience, and society in an open dialogue.  It advocates creating art in a way that leads to development in understanding and insight through the application of reason, insight, and personal responsibility.  Conscious Art™ is open about the ideas that are involved in making any art, and invite the audience to explore, rather than closing off exploration when an artwork is complete.

 

There are many valuable types of artwork that are not Conscious Art™.  This movement is not intended to diminish there value, but to promote added value in new work, to promote informed creativity and critique, and to encourage the use of artwork as a way of working together to make our global society better.

 

It is all too easy to go through a gallery and say, "I like this...Oh I don't like that."  This attitude is not useful except in treating art as a commodity.  Art can be so much more valuable if it is engaged as a communications where both artist and audience reach out in intellectual and emotional discourse.

 

The same is true of the artist's own internal dialogue. Working to refine a style or motif with only a gut response of "Oh this is better..Oh that's junk" uses only a small part of our intellectual resources, and only partially engages us.  The Conscious Artist does not operate intentionally naive of their surroundings or personal  motivations.  Instead, the Conscious Artist works towards being informed and aware of relevant traditions, towards responding to the impact of their artwork, and towards a relationship of mutual growth and understanding with the audience.