When I first started making art, I heard artists speak about the importance of art preservation. It seemed important to know about such as things as archival paper and museum-quality framing. It was as if all artists must prepare work to withstand the forces of time.Yet, for years there have been artists (and cultures) who considered destruction or deterioration part of the art as a significant to the experience. These artists do not regard their creations as static permanent objects.
Tibetan Buddhists use the Mandala sand paintings to teach impermanence. Australian Aborigines paint leaves and tree bark with mythological figures of the Dreamtime.
Navajo medicine men make sand paintings as a portal between the sick person and healing spirits. There are face and body paintings made for war, attraction or celebration.Nowadays, most of us have received emails of astonishingly beautiful and ephemeral
art made with sand, ice, chalk or henna. That record prompts a question: In this time of recording in photographs and video, is art truly ephemeral?
