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George's avatar

" The purpose of art is not to tell the truth or shine a spotlight on the real thing. Its purpose is to challenge us to make whatever sense of it we can. A work of art is an invitation to interpret—to find meaning, significance, and possibly a fresh sense of oneself. "

Can we etch this into black marble onto a hilltop obelisk .... thank you Carter !

I work to show how the chards, glints and shattered planes of our experience align into a mysterium that every viewer must piece together. This wild wonder .

May I recommend to the stack :

Kant," Observations on the Feeling of the Beautiful and Sublime", 1764. The Genius of Konigsberg set forth and stressed the 'subjectivity' of these feelings and attempted to order and categorize them to comfort his readers . Even today, like The Golden Proportion and numerous other ancient guides, his categories are instructive.

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Carter Ratcliff's avatar

That's a great image, the work of art giving the viewer the chance to align the fragments of experience into "a mysterium." And, yes, Kant on the beautiful and sublime is essential reading.

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Judy Collischan's avatar

Love the last sentence, second to last paragraph, “A work of art is an invitation to interpret, to find meaning, significance, and possibly a fresh sense of one’s self.”

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Carter Ratcliff's avatar

Thank you, Judy

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Frank Holliday's avatar

What about when areatha Franklin sing. “There ain’t nothing like the real thing”

We know what she’s saying!

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Carter Ratcliff's avatar

You're right, we do know. But when it's a question of Coke . . . your comment suggests the possibility that the Coke people were displacing a legit use of "the real thing," like Aretha Frankin's, to something that didn't really deserve it, namely, Coke. I mean, how is Coke any realer than Pepsi?

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