18 1] When the nature of the creative harmony is forgotten, intellectual prowess and academic credentials are highly valued.
2] When eloquent critics are admired and connoisseurship is in full bloom, artificiality has set in.
3] When artists become pop heroes and the details of their personal lives are scrutinized with cherish,[1] the harmony of the culture has been lost.
4] When the darkness of confusion has completely enveloped the culture, historians and curators meticulously categorize and safeguard the ideas and objects of the arts.
footnotes
1] In an age of the
personality cult, it has become necessary to sell the artist along with
the art. This, and the time pressure - essentially irrelevant to art -
have introduced strong negative forces. These do violate the basic act
of the artist, which is some form of positive, dynamic thinking, the growing
and extending of the general vision, if only occasionally and imperceptibly.
It is the most human of acts. It generates in the mind and the soul the
power that makes possible the realization of the fullest dimensions of
life. Perhaps that’s why the work should stand alone. The artist becomes
irrelevant, as he was in ancient Peru or “darkest” Africa.