ART and EXCEPTIONAL ART
"An artist cannot fail; it is a success to be one."....C. H. CooleyWHAT IS A WORK OF ART ?
"You can't
get there by bus, only by hard work and risk and by not quite
knowing what you're doing. What you'll discover will be wonderful.
What you'll discover will be yourself."........Alan
Alda
A work of art is the performance of an act or an expression in the creation of a " form
of art " or an " object of art " or an " Intent of art" that has a target audience or subject
/subjects that is/are "moved" by that art, i.e. moved either by the performance of the art
or by the impact of the "object of art" or by the "Intent of the art". ( If the concept of
Intent is not clear to the reader, the "Intent" portions may be discarded. basically "Intent
of art" refers to the non-physical aspect of a "work of art")
It is obvious that a performance is only time specific for the audience that is physically
present before the performer. If the performance is recorded, in any form or media, for
example like a motion picture, the recording becomes an "object of art". A work of art
therefore, may or may not result in an "object of art". When I refer to an "object of art"
it therefore means that it has a form and content composed of sensory media. This is in
order to distinguish it from " Intent of art " which refers to the Intent generated by the
performance of an art but which has left no physical trace or form, but its impact is felt
or experienced by someone in the future or another place. It should be clear that even
the description of a performance by a witness to that performance also constitutes an
"object of art", but naturally, its qualitative content and Intent is not the same as that
"object of art" that is directly produced by the performer.
"Any form of art
is a form of power; it has impact, it can affect change it can not
only move us, it makes us move.".........Ossie Davis
THE TARGET, GOAL or OBJECTIVE OF AN ART
"I don't think the artist should bother about the audience. His best audience is the"The defining
function of the artist is to cherish consciousness."..... Max Eastman
The foremost target or goal or objective of a work of art is the performer herself. A work
of art should ideally be moving as well as fulfilling to the performer herself. A work of art
that moves the performer has its "source" and initiation from within, from the depths of
her core being. An inner force makes the performer express an unknown quality, a latent
essence, a soul, that is present within the very being of that person, but which can
only be felt through a being's expressions and actions and the consequent
experiences triggered by the expression - what can then be called the
"motion" of an expression or work of art.
"If you practice
an art, be proud of it and make it proud of you. It may break
your heart but it will fill your heart before it breaks it; it will make you a
person in your own right".........Maxwell Anderson
The latent essence of a being is realised not merely by experience but more
so by the quality of the expressions or actions.
A "need" for expression or action comes from within the depths of a being.
This "desire" or "need' for creative expression of a latent quality ( soul )
within one's depth is
the manifestation of the Spirit of the being.
Thus the Spirit of a being is that which forces a being's soul
or essence into the motion of an expression or an action.
"The hallmarks of Spirit are, firstly, the principle of spontaneous movement
and activity ; secondly the capacity to produce images independently of
sense perceptions ; and thirdly, the autonomous and sovereign
manipulation of these images." ......C. G. Jung.
COMMERCIAL ART
But it is not always the case that the foremost target of a work of art should be the
performer. In commercial advertising, for example, the foremost target is the audience
who pays for the work of art, and so a motivational bias arises in the performer, and it
is not only quite possible that the performer of an art is not herself moved by that art,
but it is mostly the case that the performer is doing so for money, glamour, social status,
fame, etc. Besides the objective of commercial art is either to sell something or to
entertain a target audience. In exceptional cases, several objectives are met
simultaneously, for example, in some very well made movies or music performances.
PURE ART
"Every man's work, whether it be
literature or music or pictures or architecture
or anything else, is always a portrait of himself".........Samuel Butler
Pure art is where the foremost target is the performer, and the only motivation is
self-expression and fulfillment, a motivational source that is within and independent
of the opinion or approval of anyone else. Its intent is self-discovery and realisation.
Pure art creates an "Intent of art" rather than "objects of art". To give it form in the
creation of an "object of art" is only of secondary value to the performer. Or the very
process of the performance demands the creation of an object of art - for example,
sculpture. Pure art is virtually non-existent these days. Everyone's got to make a
living, you know !
Most art today is meant for a target audience, and money invariably plays a role in the
process, for it seeks appeasement and approval of the audience, irrespective of the
feelings of the performer.
OBJECTS OF ART
"Once an object
has been incorporated in a picture it accepts a new destiny."
...........Georges Braque
For most of the analysis here, the focus will be upon the "objects of art" and its
objectives, though the "intent of art" has by no means become insignificant even in a
tech age. Rather the hypothesis here is that it is the "intent of art" that carries an
"object of art" to its target.
"There is only one valuable thing
in art: the thing you cannot explain."
.............Georges Braque
So an "object of art" is not just the performance of an act, but the creation of an
"object" that has form and expressions that have a sensory media content. Again,
one cannot say that it is just data that has an order, but more than just ordered
data : and that "more" cannot be revealed by the analytic process or agreed upon
forms and rules or laws of science, but that "more" can only be revealed in a
creative synthesis by the target audience or subject. ( That creative synthesis is
initiated in the target by the "intent of the art"). The resultant experience may
not be identical or even similar, only the essence of the art has been transmitted,
communicated and experienced.
" No poet, no
artist of any sort, has his complete meaning alone.
His significance, his appreciation is the appreciation of his relation
to the dead poets and artists"..T. S. Eliot
Beyond the experience as an audience, it is entirely up to the subject's ability and
talent to express, re-perform or recreate the art according to the place, conditions
and time in which the the subject is placed in. The unique circumstances and abilities
of the subject to absorb the essence of the art, and then, to recreate the art, will
determine whether the "intent" of the art has metamorphosed into a higher quality
of the art or into a lower quality that then eventually dissipates its "intent",
although the essence never dissipates, because its essence is Nature's essence.
"All art is but imitation of nature."......L. A. Seneca
MOVEMENT OF AND BY THE ART
"Any great work of
art . . . revives and readapts time and space, and the
measure of its success is the extent to which it makes you an inhabitant
of that world - the extent to which it invites you in and lets you breathe
its strange, special air.".......Leonard
Bernstein
It has been stated above that the objective of an art is to "move" its target subject.
Lets look closely at what is meant by "move". Usually, what is meant by "move" or
"moved" is an emotional response like "moved to tears" or "moved to joy" or
"made to laugh" or in a mixture of positive and uplifting emotions "to be
entertained".
But "move" in a truly artistic sense means "moved to experience" : the essence of the
art. A wider and deeper response is that which involves a wider range of faculties,
especially that which evokes an inspiration in the subject to herself create such or
similar an art, in a unique way.
That is true movement of an art - its force that inspires an even
greater creative force in its audience.
COMPARISON OF ART, INTELLECT, RELIGION & SCIENCE
"Art is the Tree of Life, Science is the Tree of Death"...William Blake
A work of art is distinguished from a work of intellect (philosophy ), or religion or science
by the distinguishing features of its impact upon its respective target audience. A work
of intellect or philosophy attempts to enhance understanding and comprehension in its
target audience about a new concept, about interrelationship of concepts. A good work
of intellect or philosophy attempts to formulate a coherent and meaningful understanding
or hypothesis about mankind, life, the world, knowledge, etc.
In a scientific work, a person presents a hypothesis about a definitive relationship
between objects (or properties of an object) that can be tested for its definiteness and
consistency under controlled methods, and which can be verified by anyone, and a
general consensus arrived at in establishing the definiteness of that relationship or
property. A work is not a scientific work that cannot be verified or proven to the
satisfaction of the scientific establishment and its methods of verification and proof.
A religious work is one whose target audience is sought to be convinced about a
definitive theological belief about God/s or deities, or a specific method by which a
target audience is "saved" or "enlightened" or brought under the fold of a specific
religious ideology called "faith" by the protagonists of that religion.
The target audience is sought to be converted by the promise of becoming "free from
fear", from "desires", from "ego", "attaining bliss", "union with god", "experience of
ultimate reality", "attainment of nirvana", "heaven", etc, etc. The promise of a state
of perpetual bliss and peace, and freedom from "rebirth". The general methods
that are adopted by most religions are : sermons and preaching with great fervor
using stories, and scriptures, ( "faith", "hope", and "love" are the most used and
abused words, the only innovation is in using a style that traps the audience's
attention ), certain rituals and techniques ( like meditation ) are prescribed, certain
kind of worship is made essential.
"The key to the mystery of a great
artist is that for reasons unknown, he will
give away his energies and his life just to make sure that one note follows
another inevitably . . . and leaves us with the feeling that something
is right in the world".....Leonard Bernstein
A good work of art differs from all these other works by its attempt to link
or establish a relationship between beings ( past, present and future ) ,
between a being and its totality or true nature, and between a being and
Nature ( God is a billion light-years away...about five billion).
"All the arts
appertaining to man have a certain common bond, and are
connected by a kind of relationship".........Cicero
"If you don't believe
in ghosts, you've never been to a family reunion."
.........Ashleigh Brilliant
USUAL OR ORDINARY ART
The objective of ordinary art is a simple movement of the emotions : its goal is to
entertain. For most people, a work of entertainment art makes them feel emotions
that are not available in routine living. An entire motion picture industry thrives on
this, and now the television soaps have taken the top slot. Another industry that
requires the services of artists is the advertisement industry. Combined with
entertainment, its goal is to thrill the audience into buying a product or
service, and to outmaneuver and decimate the competitors.
A GOOD ART
"Art is a step from what is obvious and well-known toward what isarcane and concealed." .......Kahlil Gibran
A good work of art does not just "move" emotionally, its "movement" forces its subject
into insights about the real nature of things, about the subject's own inner nature,
about mankind's nature and relationships. It forces the subject to exercise the
creative faculties. It inspires creativity. It brings within the subject a need to emulate
the art and express it. A good art perpetuates itself, even in an imitation, because
its validity cuts across time and circumstances.
The only line that's wrong
in Shakespeare is "holding a mirror up to nature."
You hold a magnifying glass up to nature. As an actor you just enlarge it
enough so that your audience can identify with a situation. If it were a
mirror we would have no art."..... Montogomery Clift
EXCEPTIONAL ART
"Paradoxically though it may seem, it is none the less true that life
imitates art far more than art imitates life."...............Oscar Wilde
An exceptional art "moves" its target audience or subject totally and irreversibly and
transforms a subject's mind so that the being thereafter becomes capable of further
and sustainable transformation from within, just from the momentum of the impact
of that work of art. The eventual goal of that transformation is for the subject to
realise his true nature and establish a link with Nature, so that his true nature
takes command of his life, interlinked to and in harmony with Nature.
"The thing that makes you
exceptional, if you are at all, is inevitably
that which must also make you lonely"....Lorraine Hansberry
The direction and meaning of the subject's life then follows by this
relationship of the subject with Nature, as far as the subject can sustain
and develop this link and also take initiatives in developing the art of
transformation according to his abilities and talents and so himself
becomes a performer of an exceptional art.
" It is just this
transformation of the meaningless into the meaningful that
reveals the trickster's compensatory relation to the "saint"." .....C. G.
Jung
THE ORIGINS OF EXCEPTIONAL ART
"There are some
men who lift the age they inhabit, till all men walk on higher
ground in that lifetime"...Maxwell Anderson
In a tribal culture there was no "object of art" as such and such art was purely interactive
- by the performer for a specific person or persons. Mostly it was a one to one interaction
where the focus and attention of the performer was entirely upon the subject.
The performer had to be innovative with his art, and for that he had to have a good idea
of the subject's abilities and capabilities : he had to be virtually sure that the target
subject was the right one to receive the art (finding the right subject was part and process
of the art). Because any exceptional art seeks a metamorphosis in the target subject, it is
inherently dangerous. The danger comes from the fact that any total transformation of a
subject means that the subject is almost certainly going to be plunged into a serious crisis
which becomes a life threatening condition or where his very mental balance can become
derailed. Even in a one to one interaction and supervision, the risks are very much there.
There really are no guarantees in Nature.
"Art is dangerous.
It is one of the attractions: when it ceases to be dangerous
you don't want it."..........Anthony Burgess
"Art is made to disturb. Science ( or religion ) reassures".......Georges Braque
EXCEPTIONAL ART in CIVILIZATION
"Great poetry draws
its strength from the life of mankind, and we completely miss its
meaning if we try to derive it from personal factors. Whenever the collective
unconscious becomes a living experience and is brought to bear upon the conscious
outlook of an age, this event is a creative act which is of importance to everyone
living in that age. A work of art is produced that contains what may truthfully be
called a message to generations of men."........C. G. Jung
"It is closing time in
the gardens of the West and from now on an artist will be
judged only by the resonance of his solitude or the quality of his despair."
..............Cyril Connolly
The only exceptional art in civilization is that which is perpetuated by the poets of the
civilization in which they feel and point out that the society in which they live has lost
its touch with Nature. It is this loss that moves them to anguish and they pour out
words expressing this. There are also novelists or story writers who also are
exceptional artists when they create a moving story or prose about the social
conditions in which they live, when they expose the hypocrisies on which their
civilization is based upon. Those works are exceptional if they succeed in inspiring
other people. Sometimes great social movements have taken place by a work that
moves sufficient number of people to act.
" An epoch is like an individual ; it has its own limitations of conscious outlook
In art, all who
have done something other than their predecessors
have merited the epithet of revolutionary; and it is they alone
who are masters."......Paul
Gauguin
OBJECTS OF EXCEPTIONAL ART
"To find a form that accommodates the mess, that is the task of
the artist now".....Samuel Beckett
In its origin, exceptional art was a performing art, and a work of art was an act of art,
that created an "intent of art". ( The best way to understand "intent of art" is to understand
it as a counterpart of an "object of art", that is, a flux or force in reality in contrast to a set
of data that makes an object.)
By its very demonstrative actions and interactive nature, the art perpetuated itself, no
objects were necessary. And an exceptional art found its target audience by its intent itself
and brought the subject in direct interaction with the performer.
With civilization came language and linguistic reality. Education made sure that everyone
was made to learn the same linguistic concepts that are increasingly becoming concepts
having a scientific base and scientific like thinking, in which general consensus rules
completely and totally. All concepts have been objectified by consensus.
Technology. . . the knack of so
arranging the world that we don't have
to experience it..........Max Frisch
Creative imagination and poetry has become labeled as the work and pastime of misfits
and the lunatic fringe. Even art has been invaded by technical terminology. The objects
of art today are indistinguishable from the objects and gadgets of technology. A fusion
has indeed taken place ! A fusion that makes a machine more valuable than a human
being. Human beings have become quite dispensable, machines are indispensable.
And if exceptional art has been stated here as that which transforms a being, then
clearly such an art has become extinct, for the only transformation that seems to be
taking place is the transformation of human beings into machines, or worse.
"Education makes machines which
act like men and produces men who
act like machines".........Erich Fromm
"Science and
technology multiply around us. To an increasing extent they
dictate the languages in which we speak and think. Either we use those
languages, or we remain mute".....J. G. Ballard
"God made a mistake in
his calculations at the Tower of Babel : nowadays
everybody speaks the same Technology".......Elias Canetti
Objects of exceptional art in a tech age are those that can reverse this process - to
evoke the human component so that it can transform itself. An object of exceptional
art therefore has to be powerful enough to be able to find its target subject by
itself. To any other person, it will appear as a meaningless jumble of nonsense that
is totally irrelevant in a technological age. To a target subject, however, it will be
realised as "made to order", a perfect fit for that person, but which will shake the
person down to the very core of his being.
The exceptional art object in its impact upon the target subject, knocks off all other
objects to the point where the entire structure of objects eventually collapses and the
only objects that are left are those that are barely necessary for the survival of the
being.
Thus such an object has to be in the form and construct of a simple but effective
linguistic set of concepts, the expressions of which are both artistic as well as
rational.
"If some great idea
takes hold of us from outside, we must understand that
it takes hold of us only because something in us responds to it and goes
out to meet it. Richness of mind consists in mental receptivity, not in the
accumulation of possessions. What comes to us from outside, and for that
matter, everything that rises up from within, can only be made our own if
we are capable of an inner amplitude equal to that of the
incoming content .
Without psychic depth we
can never be adequately related to the magnitude
of our object. A man grows with the greatness of his task, but he must have
within himself the capacity to grow ; otherwise the most difficult task is
of no benefit to him. More likely he will be shattered by it"...........C G Jung
THE ART OF LANGUAGE
"In a decaying
society, art, if it is truthful, must also reflect decay. And unless
it wants to break faith with its social function, art must show the world as
changeable. And help to change it"....Ernst Fischer
Language is the most important medium of communication, because it is only through
expressions in language that human beings can share and learn from very diverse
experiences of each other as well as to grasp new concepts, so that their own
limitations in experiencing and conceptualistion are revealed, limitations of beliefs
exposed, and so that these limitations can be realised and transcended, so as to open
up the path and space for creative expression.
Artistic expressions in language must be able to accomplish the following :
1) Convey new ideas, concepts and insights that are impossible to convey in straight,
square, rigid scientific terms.
2) To break the stranglehold of the scientific - objective as well as the religiously
rigid mindset over the intellect of man, since both these extremes of belief systems
suppresses the artistic use of language, confining the intellect of man into
a very narrow band of activity.
3) To break through mental blocks that are hard grounded by social - cultural
conditioning.
4) To cause a paradigm shift in the notions one has about the world, and reality.
5) Expose and uncover hidden unquestioned assumptions.
6) Dissolve mental bottlenecks by breaking open closed and locked logical loops
or circles of thought limited only to one or very few basic operating assumptions.
7) Balance opposing elements of thought, emotions and beliefs by exposing
undervalued and overvalued ones.
8) To enhance the boggle- threshold of one's conceptualisations so that existing
concepts do not block or reject new or culturally alien concepts.
9) Break the stuckness caused by laziness, boredom, feelings of stupidity,
silliness, ridicule, worthlessness and inevitability.
10) Remove overvalued or exaggerated importance of beliefs about oneself.
11) Forces the undertaking of new tasks that demand higher challenges.
12) To generate stimulus for creative imagination.
"Without
poets, without artists, men would soon weary of nature's monotony.
The sublime idea men have of the universe would collapse with dizzying speed.
The order which we find in nature, and which is only an effect of art,
would at once vanish.".........Guillaume
Apollinaire