Here’s a thought experiment: Imagine you are looking at an old tree, say, or a beautiful sunset, or a view over fields and valleys, or something else that strikes you as special. You get a feeling. Perhaps it is a feeling of sentiment or a new perspective. Or perhaps it is a feeling of exultation because the thing you are looking at seems remarkable to you for some other reason. Perhaps it gives you hope, or perhaps it is awe-inspiring.
Now, imagine that someone is standing next to you and asks you to describe the feeling you are having. They want to know what you’re experiencing as you look at this view of the world….
Such is the problem that artists are trying to solve when they make their art. From initial inspiration, they are trying to answer the problem of how to best represent it. Be it a memory, an idea, a feeling, a story from myth or history, or a philosophical notion, a work of art is the result of trying to solve the dilemma of how best to describe it in paint or stone, or for more modern practitioners, video, performance or installation.
When treated in this way, I think it’s possible to see that a work of art can be a flawed object. It is an experiment. It is an attempt.
—Christopher P. Jones, How to Read Paintings: Learn about masterpieces from art history
All art is translation. We don’t really think in words; we think in concepts and ideas which we then translate into words, and then when we write, we have to translate the words in our heads into words on the page, and they never end up the same. What we write always falls short of what we see or feel.
As Jones points out here, that happens to everyone, no matter what the medium, and that’s okay. It’s normal. All art is flawed. What’s important is the attempt. When you’ve made your work of art, the only one who knows how flawed it is compared to what you wanted it to be is you.
Last week: Milorad Krstić and a world that is more powerful than reality.
Next week: Rick Ludwin on what made Seinfeld successful.
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