We’re more than matter. The material
universe is not the extent of the universe that man inhabits and that
he is capable of seeing and thinking about. But, it is the place he
sees and moves around in and it takes up a lot of his attention. Good
works of art bring the world of the mind, the world of moral choice
and consequence, the world of beauty, into the physical world in a
way that makes them obvious enough to be contemplated, making it
possible for man to look out and above the physical into the larger
and more important universe.
This is what good art does for a
thoughtful audience. It’s also what good art does for the
thoughtful artist. The activity is not essentially different for the
artist than the audience, except that the artist is a lot more like
Indiana Jones at the beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark, and the
audience is a little more like Belloq. The artist struggles with the
raw material of experience, ideas, and the world, braves the traps
and dangers, and hopefully escapes with some treasure. The audience
shows up after all the work’s done and takes it from the artist;
his mad cackles echoing through the untamed jungle.
Ok, the metaphor isn’t perfect. There
is still plenty of adventure to be had and work to be done on the
part of the audience; the work of appreciating, drawing out, and
understanding the beauty and truth contained in the work. Also,
artist and audience, being engaged in essentially the same thing,
would ideally be on the same side working together. And, really, the
artist is also a member of the audience, because it is one thing to
build a window, and another thing to look through it; one thing to
seek out the treasure, and another to make use of it.
Assuming this makes sense and gives us
a good reason to make art, what authority do artists have?
None.
The question in the previous article
was “Why should we make art?” And every instance of “art”
so far in this article has been qualified with the gravely important
but blanket adjective “good.” I’ve been outlining a use for a
particular kind of making that can be worthwhile. I haven’t, and we
can’t, declare that kind of making incapable of other, unworthy
uses.
We’ve identified a subset of things
man makes: things he makes intending them to be there to be
looked at, heard, thought about. The pre-existing materials he uses
are all the thoughts, experiences, and ideas available to him. The
pre-existing circumstances are the nature of the universe, the human
condition and his own condition in particular. And his motivation
could be almost anything.
Given what we’ve outlined, an artist
is at best an intrepid adventurer, a daring hero of the human
race seeking glory and ancient treasure in the wilderness of
experience and thought. “At best?” You say, “Sounds pretty
awesome to me!” Well, yes, it is pretty awesome the way I put it.
But, it doesn’t give him any authority. Even if a hero succeeds, it
might be (and often is) largely luck (meaning here forces outside of
his control) that made it possible. He might deserve our
appreciation, even our admiration, but it isn’t as an artist
that he should be treated as an authority, because as an artist
he made an attempt and it worked, but that doesn’t mean he knows
why, or how to do it again.
And that’s what he is at best. At
worst he is a liar, a deceiver intent on confusing and misleading for
his own purposes. Art is a pretty good method for this, because a
work of art is there, just like everything else. So casual
people are likely to treat the lying work of art and all the other
things they’ve come in contact with (high school, trees, their
mothers) with the same basic level of legitimacy, simply because they
exist. But, clearly, the existence of your mother and the existence
of Fifty Shades of Gray are not the same kind of existence.
Your mom is a miracle and a mystery beyond the power of the human
mind to conceive (as is everyone’s). Fifty Shades of Gray
was written by someone like you who decided to write instead of
whatever you decided to do.
So a person doesn’t get authority by
being an artist (even a good artist) because being an artist is not
essentially about understanding what one is doing. He could just be
in the right place at the right time. The parallel with Indie is
pretty good actually (if you look at the plot of Raiders of the Lost
Ark, he didn’t really affect much. The real fight there is
between God and the Nazis, and when God decided to make a direct
move, He literally melted their faces off. Indie is pretty awesome,
but he was just along for the ride.)
Authority in something like artistic
endeavor (authority in the sense of deserving deference and having
the right to determine how things are done) would have to come from
understanding. It would have to come from insight into the
nature and meaning of the subject matter because, ultimately, all
authority has to come from the Truth.
***
Alright folks, you probably didn’t
notice (I know I wouldn’t have without Blogger’s stat tracking
features) but this article marks the one year anniversary of
the blog! I have been aware of this impending event for some time,
and there are some radical changes and new adventures in store.
Please go here to read the announcement!
©
2014 John Hiner III
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