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#Post#: 28--------------------------------------------------
To Reveal Art and Conceal the Artist is Art’s Aim
By: TheFantastical Date: December 21, 2017, 3:00 am
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To kick off this section, I thought that I would post an article
that I wrote a while back after a rather long and admittedly
interesting discussion about how much of an author self should
be in a work.
The quote in the title of this piece has been around for a long
long time and says it all really. Its first incarnation is from
Roman times, the rhetorician Quintilian (35 AD – 100 AD) said,
“The perfection of art is to conceal art.” Another unattributed
and probably more contemporary version says, "ars est celare
artem" or “True art is to conceal art.” In more recent times
Oscar Wilde said, “To reveal art and conceal the artist is art’s
aim." It is also the what inspired this piece.
While the sentiment of the art in art being to conceal the
artist's hand within a piece may seem contrary, it is one that I
can agree with wholeheartedly. When you write, the reader must
not see the writer behind the words, only the world, the
information that you, the writer, are trying to convey to the
reader.
This does not mean that I do not believe that creativity comes
from the self, or that a writer should not have a "voice", just
as an artist has a personal and unique style, writers have their
own way of creating. But self must never get in the way of the
subject. Think of it as... As if the self is a frame, it is
there to hold the subject, to allow others to easily view the
subject, but you don't want them looking at the frame instead of
what is being framed. In fact, they should be totally unaware of
the frame, the words used to create the piece; all they should
be aware of is the subject, what image, feeling, does it bring
to them. What it took to create it, what holds it, even who made
it should not be impacting the reader or getting between the
reader and the subject.
I would say that writing, as with every work of art, should be
"selfless" in that it shouldn't ever be about the creator.
Rather it should be about the subject. They use their creativity
to give voice to the subject matter. The creator's job, be they
an artist, a writer, or a photographer, is to express their
chosen subject matter in a way that others can connect with it.
The fact is that you cannot expect a full connection to occur
with the creators self.
In order to truly touch a viewer, you need to have something
that will touch upon one of the few universal emotions that we
all have. This I personally think is one of the biggest
responsibilities of a creator, to create something bigger than
just themselves, to give something to the world, to the people
that will come across their work. You give, not in the hope of
gaining some reward but to change a little of the world around
you. Hopefully for the good.
Once again the creator has to step back, let the viewer find
their own way about things. All we can do is give them something
worth looking at, worth reading. We have to let go of the self
and create something timeless, something that is more than just
our personal lives splashed about.
Having the reader concentrate on you, the writer serves no
purpose except take the readers attention away from where it
should be, on the work, and not on the artist.
For it really is art to conceal art.
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