Is Art Necessary?

A while ago I was telling Tom how much work cooking is - it took me half an hour to put together the base for a pork roast:  sauerkraut, raisins, apple slices. Then I remembered how struck I was by the beauty of the apples, and the shadows the bright overhead track lights threw on the counter, and I thought, when apples are so beautiful, why do we bother doing art?  So I'd reached for my camera.





Of course, my little Samsung phone camera does much more than I ever could do with film, including this kind of shot, which is negative......





and then the Picasa editing system auto-fixed the shot that had been a little under-exposed......

I had to laugh.  No wonder it took me half an hour to slice a couple of apples. 

And I had to laugh again when I realized that even as I questioned the necessity of art, I had paused to do art then and there, not having time (or expertise) to paint a still life.  Was this exploration of the beauty of apples needed?  Obviously, if you were really hungry you'd eat the damn apple.  But if you do have the luxuries of food and shelter and time to regard an apple and record its beauty, then your pleasure has been magnified.  Then too, there's something grounding and relaxing in appreciating what is right in front of you. It felt like time out for meditation. And I think that's all useful.