Marvin,
I won't say "give me a break" knowing it might seem confrontational again but it otherwise was my first thought when traveling through your explanation of ART. After that question gets solved (it might take more than a few posts) and armed with that success we might then tackle the definition of God. It sounds as though any as yet discovered civilization not having had the benefit of a Western made altar and without the genius of Rembrandt will have no chance of cultivating an Artist qualified for that special spot in heaven for our like.
It seems as though each time any artist, who sooner or later earns the general consensus of Genius, is found to have broken with the conventional wisdom of quasi governmental organizations and academies are then likely to have the same bodies establish a revised set of dogmas to bind and blind the next generations of artists.
"Lower the bar"? (Whose bar?) "Modern Artist are imbalanced"? And an earlier post suggested that "any idiot can do it"? Is there not a whiff of arrogance and self rightfulness in these comments?
I was disappointed that "The Art Spirit" was dismissed because you are not inspired the writers work. I wouldn't think teacher/writers's merit rested so strongly on his painting abilities. I went to the trouble to post the book description by American Art Review just so all could know that is is NOT a treatise and does not promote any aesthetic or ideological approach. And if Rembrandt published a book on art what kind of guarantee would we have that his words could match his paintings?
The book is hardly threatening and I dare you to read it and tell me it was not worthwhile.
It's also my personal philosophy that I will be my best, most thoughtful, and eventually most self assured to the extent that I am willing to be open vulnerable. I always thought it intrinsic to the role of the fine artist to take on and seek out those who seem to have strong and well thought out differences from me. They are the very ones to provide new insight, reinforce the views, truths, and values that remain basically unchanged and generally to provoke new ways to know, understand, and paint.
|