Art Imitates Life
Art, its purpose, and what life would be like without it.
Hi Zan, Hi Pa
Volume #65
May 25th, 2026
HI, ZAN: I’ve been thinking about art this morning. Creative writing, sculpture, dance, music, pottery, painting—what am I leaving out? What is its purpose, its place in our life? Can we do without it?
HI, PA: Don’t forget architecture, film, theater, photography, graphic design, and so many more… Plus all the subcategories beneath them!
I think we could (and maybe we will) spend this whole Substack talking about the purpose of art. To me, it all comes down to expression. Things like math and science may be the main ways we explain and engineer the human experience, but art is the way that we express it—all its highs and lows, frustrations and joys, all the big questions. And our deep yearning to express the human experience is exactly what makes us human. So no, I don’t think we could do without it.
What is art’s place in your life specifically?
PA: Nicely said.
Well, it has been how I’ve made my living all these years, so that’s my relationship to art on the practical level. Many thousands of hours I’ve spent in the art realm.
ZAN: Me, too, now that I’ve chosen to somewhat follow in your footsteps!
PA: You’re great at it, but, as you know, writing is a hard way to make a living.
On a deeper level, I’ve found my own work in the arts therapeutic, really healing. And I know that, through it, I’ve connected with people all over the world—mostly strangers—sharing what you call the ‘highs and lows’ and pondering together ‘the big questions.’
But the artwork of others has had a larger impact on me. Some forms of art we encounter every day—architecture, as you note, being one of them. Others we need to seek out, by turning on the TV, buying a ticket to a movie, attending a museum, listening to music.
Of these, I think painting has had the biggest effect on me, which might seem strange given all the magnificent novels I’ve read, studied, and taught. Something about walking through a museum of beautiful and moving paintings really touches me in a particular place. In the days when Amanda was the photographer at The Clark Art Institute, admission was free, and we lived only a few miles away, so I loved to go in for half an hour and wander around staring at the genius of Bouguereau and Monet and Sargent and Cassatt and others. I left, always, with a greater appreciation for life.
Which art form means the most to you?
ZAN: For me, it’s always been film… I don’t know if you remember this, but there was a time in my life when I thought I might study to be a director! And another time when I had delusions of being a movie actress.
PA: Delusions, nothing! You had real talent.
ZAN: Ha! As I said, I believe art is expression, which in itself is a form of storytelling. And I’ve always found movies to be a particularly moving form of storytelling. Not just the really big, blockbuster hit type of movies (with some exceptions), but movies that use complex storytelling techniques in the way the best writing also does.
The Godfather, for me, is one of those movies—Luca Brasi stuttering when he practices his speech, or Clemenza showing Michael how to make tomato sauce, or the tender moment when the Don plays with his grandchild in the garden… These kinds of moments might not make it into an action movie where every scene needs to contribute to the building of the plot, but to me they are art. How much emotion and human complexity they reveal!
Often when I watch a really great movie, I come away with some little storytelling lesson to apply to my writing. Like how to tease details but let the reader put the pieces together, or how to build suspense leading up to a big moment, or how to end on a powerful note.
PA: Exactly.
ZAN: Beyond a greater appreciation for life, what else have you learned from art? Or artists?
