How can anybody learn anything from an artwork when the piece of art only reflects the vanity of the artist and not reality?
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I come from a family that does not believe in art to this day. They think art is vanity.
An example I often use to illustrate the reality of vanity, is this: look at the peacock; it's beautiful if you look at it from the front. But if you look at it from behind, you discover the truth... Whoever gives in to such self-absorbed vanity has huge misery hiding inside them.
Whether art is defined as a representation of or response to reality, it demands an intense engagement with things we haven't managed to understand fully.
When you look at art made by other people, you see what you need to see in it.
I have to assume that everybody interprets a piece of art they're exposed to as if it's already perfect in its wholeness, without knowing any backstory.
If you cannot learn to love real art, at least learn to hate sham art and reject it.
Art teaches you the philosophy of life, and if you can't learn it from art, you can't learn it at all. It shows you that there is no perfection. There is light, and there is shadow. Everything is in half tint.
An artist's job is simply to take the mirror in front of your face and hold it there. It's not to give you any answers. It is simply to take that mirror and point it at you.
As an artist, there were different levels in my career that brought me to a realization that I am what you would call a pure artist. And I don't say that with any type of vanity.
The art of a people is a true mirror to their minds.