As I have said before, conversation for the arts is like oxygen for fire. Ignore them, and they slowly wither.

This is not a contemporary development. In 1941, artist Nicolas Calas wrote to Alfred Barr at New York’s Museum of Modern Art that “the hardest thing for an artist . . . trying to earn a living in America is to make contact with an educated public. If our work isn’t known here . . . it’s nearly impossible to go on.”

This is surely even more the case now, if only because the art world is so much more diffused and diverse.

Artists need the public to know about them and be conversant with their work.

It’s fine not to like a particular painting, sculpture, play or piece of music.

What’s not fine is to dismiss them as mere frills, not worthy of our attention and conversation if they don’t immediately meet our expectations.

Last weekend at the Dallas Museum of Art I saw an exhibit of the work of Belgian painter Luc Tuymans.

While prominent in some circles, Tuymans certainly doesn’t have the name recognition of, say, Warhol.

He works in muted colors: lots of greys, whites and shadowy blacks.

Figures are often hazy and even the few he renders with clarity have mystery about them.

What are those lines among the trees in this painting? Is that a person’s reflection in that coffee pot? His subjects range from what might be called portraiture to the Holocaust.

Tuymans’ work does not reward a cursory visit. One needs to spend time in front of these paintings, returning back to several, before the effect of them begins to seep in.

Patience and thoughtfulness, however, are rewarded amply.

Frankly, I didn’t expect to enjoy the exhibit as much as I did, but if one slowly takes him in, one can see Tuymans as a thoughtful and evocative painter, capable of connecting with his viewers every bit as much as Norman Rockwell.

But patience and thoughtfulness are not traits that contemporary culture seeks to cultivate.

Television and the Internet increasingly have the capacity to drown out all but the overtly sensational.

It’s in part why conflict-driven “reality shows” are so popular — the drama and strife is right there on the surface, portrayed clearly enough so that even the inattentive viewer can effortlessly join in on the action and discuss it all the next day.

Subtlety is not a valued commodity in our current culture.

Conversation about the arts, on the other hand, is an antidote to this.

As we talk with others about a play, a sculpture, or a symphony, we begin to draw more meaning from it, and at the same time encourage others — maybe even those who are skeptical — that such things are worth their time and, yes, effort.

All this may seem obvious, but perhaps not. We as a community need to be more talkative about the arts here in Waco.

If you’ve been to a production of the Waco Civic Theater or a gallery show, talk to people about it and encourage them to go.

We’ve all had people give us advice about where to eat or what movies we should go see. But far fewer are the times someone has told me about the play he just saw or a concert she just heard.

Truth be told, I don’t do such a good job of it myself.

I’ll try to do better. And even though it’s not in Waco, next time you’re in Dallas, go see that Tuymans exhibit.

The more we as a community talk about the arts, the more they’ll take deep root here.

David A. Smith is a senior lecturer in American history at Baylor University and is a member of the Waco Cultural Arts Festival board of directors. E-mail him at www.davidasmith.net.