"..the earth, and compel men entranced by the sight
of distant goals to glance for a moment at the
surrounding vision of form and colour, of
sunshine and shadows: to make them pause for a look,
for a sigh, for a smile—such is the aim,
difficult and evanescent, and reserved only for a few to achieve.”
"This applies to my goal to make people stop and
not just glance at my work but really see it and the
world it conveys." Kay Lorbecki
“ All art appears primarily to the senses, …. All art must
make its appear through the senses, if its high desire is to reach the secret
spring of responsive emotions.” Joseph
Conrad. Preface to, “The .... of the Narcissus.” This preface was written in 1957. Back then in order for something to be called
“art” it needed a purity, to it, a
notion of originality, the senses it was believed was one way of finding and
expressing that purity. Since then this
notion of purity through the senses has transformed, morphed into art can be
anything and everything and anyone can be an artist. And I don’t need to
understand it because it’s art.
If art is anything and everything then it is nothing. If art is only related to the senses and it
is the individuals personal senses and every individuals sense of art is right
– then there is nothing right in art.
And again art is nothing.
Art needs to be sensed, but that is not the only thing that
makes art art – the notion of originality hasn’t changed. The dictionary defines originality as “the
ability to think “– note the word think here – “independently and creatively. The quality of being novel or unusual. Inventiveness, ingenuity, creativeness,
creativity, innovation, novelty, freshness, imaginations, individuality,
unconventionality, uniqueness, distinctiveness.”
This, uniqueness,
includes the senses. Your senses
my senses are one of a kind, unique – so then how do we know a work is a work
of art if the concept of art is dependent on originality and the senses. So when one looks at a work of art – one can
sense it is a a horse say, but how is that horse rendered. If the life of the artist and the horse evident
in the work. If the viewer only sees
what is recognizable, then that sense is not unique – the viewer and the artist
need to move beyond, discover what is the uniqueness of the form and how the
artist uniquely rendered it.
Does this mean anything uniquely rendered is art? No because then all unique things could be
called art. It takes more and I do
believe that Conrad captured that sense of moreness with his comment, “To
arrest, for the space of a breath, …and compel men entranced by the sight of distant
goals to glance for a moment at the surrounding vision of form and colour, of
sunshine and shadows; to make them pause for a look, for a sigh, for a smile –
such is the aim, difficult and evanescent and reserved only for a few to
achieve. But sometimes, by the deserving
and the fortunate, even that task is accomplished. And when it is accomplished – behold! – all
the truth of life is there: a moment of vision, a sign, a smile – and the
return to an eternal rest.” Joseph Conrad. Preface to, “The .... of the
Narcissus,”
So dear friend Kay Lorbecki I come to the same conclusion
that you have re the question what is art and I have returned to the quote you
like from Conrad “
Just what is it about
art that holds you as an artist captive?
What is it that you think art is?
"Soulful Jazz Singer - Moody Sax Player." 11"x15" Acrylic, watercolor on paper. Artwork by Christine Alfery. At The Fishing Cabin Series.
