I don't know anything about art.

It’s strange but as much as I enjoy so many forms of art, as much as I am involved in many things pertaining to various forms of art, I have become convinced that I know nothing about art at all.

I am overwhelmed with feeling when listening to music I love, and when discovering new music I inevitably will love. I have shed spontaneous tears over lyrics that spoke to the deepest parts of my being. I have leapt to my feet bidden only by the rhythm of the drum or the throb of a bass line. I have danced to music I have never heard before, instinctively moving to unfamiliar rhythms, as though I have heard and danced to that song a thousand times before… and I have danced until sheer exhaustion takes me. I have felt a calm spread over me through the familiarity of certain songs; a warmth envelop me when I hear notes that immediately reach my heart. I have trouble sitting still when there is music. Whether it is a need to dance, or just tap my foot, or sway... almost unconsciously…music creates movement for me. I know that I love sound and song and lyrics and rhythm and music.

I have been taken over by literature. Swept into worlds that are not my own by the written word on a page. I love the feeling of being immersed in the author’s world; of knowing them in some sense simply by reading what they have put on a page. I have laughed out loud and been brought to tears and lost sleep, staying up late to finish that last chapter… I love reading. I love so many types of books that I cannot count the ones I’ve read.

I have been transported by theatre. I have watched many plays and I have loved some beyond explanation. I have been moved to tears and laughter. I have leapt to my feet at the end of a show, applauded until my hands burned. I have sung along with musicals and learned the opening lines of numerous shows simply by repetition of viewing. I have a recording of one such show that never fails to make me cry at the end, even now, years later. I can still see it all so clearly in my head.

I have been transfixed by the beauty in a painting. I love to be immersed in colour. To be able to see layers upon layers in someone else’s pictures. Sometimes it is the subject matter (I often love paintings that evoke water), sometimes it is a saturation of colour, sometimes it is an unknown quality but "I know what I like"… doesn’t everyone say that?

But it’s true. I do know what I like. And I like a lot of things. Ask me to tell you why and I’m not sure I’d be able to. And I have the feeling of late that this means I really don’t know anything about art.