On Jan 23, 2009, at 10:46 AM, William Conger wrote:
We create symbols of the real world in order to gain greater access
to the relationship between ourselves and the world. Such symbols
are interchangeable and metaphorical. They enable us to compare and
contrast, to perceive one thing as if it were another, to multiply
our experiences and thus our capacities to cooperate with reality.
I think this is the same root for all edeavors, whether scientific,
speculative, or artistic. If so, then the role of art is to gain
access to reality. Sentimentality is a shroud over reality that
directs perception inward to assuage the difficulty of assimilating
the self to the objective world. Sentimentality is the comforting
blanket of infancy, a retreat to a fantasy of the womb.
I think the best art mediates the self and reality. It offers a
metaphorical fusing of the self as if other, an objectification of
the self as a make-believe symbol of reality. It is a rebirth into
the world.
Pay attention, folks. This is good stuff.
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Michael Brady
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