Existential - What's that word?

       Flash Back Friday

The Tempest 5x7 oil on paper

Flash back to my art school days when I had to sit through many lectures and readings of artists statements.  I didn’t much care for this because, well, I'd just rather be painting.  To make me even more uncomfortable the speakers always seemed to use extra big words that I didn't understand.  After school, my immersion in this type of banter tapered off quite a bit but from time to time I would here these words again.  No matter, I thought, I’ll just go over here and look at this while they ramble on.  As the years went by working in the commercial art field these occasions happened less and less until recently.  For the past few years I have been poking my head into the fine-art world a bit more.  And guess what – I’m hearing these words again, eating my brain bit by bit.

Today I was listening to a podcast and one of the speakers said this “Existentially his work is exceptional” and I thought, what the hell does this mean?  This is one of those words I have heard used many times without knowing what they had meant - This work (painting) is so existential, or, her work is so existential in how she conveys herself.

Well guess what I did.  I started googling the meaning of existential.   Back in the old days I didn’t have a phone on my hip that could do such a thing, but now I do.  Googling this word seems easy enough but what I was hearing and therefore googling was “Eggstenstencial.”  This is the sound I heard but this was not the word.  The worldwide internet had no spelling suggestions for me (this seems to happen a lot to me - maybe I need to get my hearing checked) so I tried different ways of spelling what I heard and finally stumbled across the real, correct word:

From the Oxford Dictionaries:

ex·is·ten·tial

adjective

• 1. of or relating to existence.

Okay, so does that simply mean:  relating to existence his work is exceptional?  Or - while he lives his work is exceptional? (And will be crap when he’s dead?)  Comparing with life, his work is exceptional? (Someone must have a pretty bad life cause I’ve seen his art.)  It still doesn’t make sense to me in the context of what I’ve heard in the past so I Googled some more.

Wikipedia wrote a small book on this word, google it if you wish to read it.  I didn’t make it past the first paragraph before I started looking for a more direct meaning.  I came across this definition at Dictionary.com:

It’s an adjective

1      1)       pertaining to existence.

        2)      of, relating to, or characteristic of existentialism: an existential hero.

I always love it when you look up a meaning of something and then you have to look up another word that sounds so close to what you were looking for to begin with.  Why use the word Existentialism to define existential?  Does that really help?  I guess I need to Google this one too.

Here’s what Existentialism means:

ex·is·ten·tial·ism

noun

• 1. a philosophical theory or approach that emphasizes the existence of the individual person as a free and responsible agent determining their own development through acts of the will.

Huh?  I don’t get it.  It must be too philosophical for my puny mind.  This must be why I’m an artist.  A visual person.  Oh well, back to Google to look further.

From Learners Dictionary, Ask the Editor, August 9^th, 2012, Jane Mairs, director of English Language had this to say:

Link: http://www.learnersdictionary.com/qa/the-meaning-of-existential

The adjective existential is often defined as, “of, or relating to, existence.” However, as you point out, that doesn’t really explain the meaning of existential in most contexts.    * Me - see others had the same questions - I'm not alone in this world.  This inspired me to read on.

Let’s try another approach, looking at how the word is most often used. Using a language corpus, I found that existential most often occurs in one of these phrases: 

1. existential threat
2. existential questions
3. existential crisis

The first phrase, existential threat, is used in texts or discussions about politics, usually politics in the Middle East. In this context, existential is being used literally. An existential threat is a threat to a people’s existence or survival.

The second phrase, existential questions, references Existentialism, a 20th century philosophy concerned with questions about how and whether life has meaning, and why we exist. (For more information, look up Existentialism or the philosopher, Jean-Paul Sartre.)

The third phrase, existential crisis, is also a reference to Existentialism, but it is often used in a humorous or sarcastic way, to suggest that the person or people being described spend too much thinking about themselves and the meaning of their lives.

In sum, existential can be a reference to survival, or to the meaning of our lives, or used to poke fun at others who might take themselves a bit too seriously.

Okay, now I’m seeing the light and starting to understand the word but still confused a bit on how it applies to someone's artwork.  I then scrolled down and saw a comment from a man named Carl on this forum.  It reads:

“In the dictionary, "existential" is defined simply as "pertaining to existence." When I first heard it used as an adjective, I had to go the dictionary to find out just what the word was seeking to convey.
In today's lexicon, it appears that, rather than say "X represents a threat to my existence," someone might say "X represents an existential threat [to me]." To most readers, the use of the word "existential" as an adjective adds nothing to our understanding. However, newspaper columnists and TV commentators have taken to using the word as an adjective to emphasize the something exists; hence, the oft-heard phrase these days, that this or that represents an "existential threat." Frankly, I find the phrase off-putting because, to me, those who use the phrase are simply trying to impress. Anytime you use a word not commonly used that forces even literate persons to go to the dictionary, you are not doing anyone any service. You are simply seeking to impress.
Carl …”

What do you think?  

Me, I think he’s right.  We all don’t need to use big giant words to try and make up for a lack of art in our artwork.  Just do the art and let it speak for itself.  Leave the big words for other peoples.  Yep, I said peoples, with an s.  That’s my new big word:)

Cheers,

Larry