The Measure of Art
The artist is the only realist.
He understands the meaning and importance of pain and seeks it nevertheless.
The artist understands the duality of mind and packages reality with all its vicissitudes in sensory drivers as images, words and sound - with the hope of nullifying our inertia.
The artist hopes to wake us up, he hopes that we recognize reality and accept it.
All art as all life is thus driven by hope, by expectation. To assume that art expects only appraisal is to restrict its potential. Art solely expects a reaction. This reaction can take any form. It can stimulate, disparage, enunciate or simply acknowledge reality as presented by the artist.
How then do we define a successful artist?
A successful artist can only be assessed by the "variety of reactions" his art conjures. More diverse the reactions more successful the artist is. True art is the skill of packaging diversity in a single piece - as a poem, a painting, a story or a symphony.
If a painting or a story conjures several varieties of reactions at the same time it transforms into good art.
Good art is eternal. It transcends the boundaries of time as it conveys eternal truths and urges momentum. It moves us. It makes us jealous and joyful, anxious and hopeful.
Good art is also a mirror. An average artist shows us what he sees, a master shows us ourselves.
What better way to experience reality than to read a poem? To see a masterpiece for hours and observe the reactions it conjures. To listen to a classical symphony and swim through the variety of emotions it invokes.
How quickly we judge a masterpiece without giving ourselves the time to ingest its experience, without attempting to understand it; by confidence in our arrogant intelligence to take reality literally.
Maybe the only way to grasp reality is to accept that its not literal. The artist is only drawing an outline, our imagination is coloring it up.
This - is the measure of art.
He understands the meaning and importance of pain and seeks it nevertheless.
The artist understands the duality of mind and packages reality with all its vicissitudes in sensory drivers as images, words and sound - with the hope of nullifying our inertia.
The artist hopes to wake us up, he hopes that we recognize reality and accept it.
All art as all life is thus driven by hope, by expectation. To assume that art expects only appraisal is to restrict its potential. Art solely expects a reaction. This reaction can take any form. It can stimulate, disparage, enunciate or simply acknowledge reality as presented by the artist.
How then do we define a successful artist?
A successful artist can only be assessed by the "variety of reactions" his art conjures. More diverse the reactions more successful the artist is. True art is the skill of packaging diversity in a single piece - as a poem, a painting, a story or a symphony.
If a painting or a story conjures several varieties of reactions at the same time it transforms into good art.
Good art is eternal. It transcends the boundaries of time as it conveys eternal truths and urges momentum. It moves us. It makes us jealous and joyful, anxious and hopeful.
Good art is also a mirror. An average artist shows us what he sees, a master shows us ourselves.
What better way to experience reality than to read a poem? To see a masterpiece for hours and observe the reactions it conjures. To listen to a classical symphony and swim through the variety of emotions it invokes.
How quickly we judge a masterpiece without giving ourselves the time to ingest its experience, without attempting to understand it; by confidence in our arrogant intelligence to take reality literally.
Maybe the only way to grasp reality is to accept that its not literal. The artist is only drawing an outline, our imagination is coloring it up.
This - is the measure of art.
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