Same / Never the Same

Art depends on risk, or it will not be.

Without risk, nothing changes. The only complete failure is the failure to act, even in the face of the impossible.

Dominion

Fantasy worlds are nothing if not popular, and thus they are perpetually recreated.

In contrast, the exploration of life and being can never be as complete as any imagined alternative, yet every vision, every work, will be unique in perspective, execution, content, and theme.

Observations Untold

Cultural loss is, to some degree, inevitable.

Visible artifacts remain, and with them, the suggestion of sensory impressions, every one vague and mysterious, beyond reach for millennia.

No finely-considered speculations will recreate "music" of uncertain realities long extinct, but, with the contemplative spirit of the aesthetic sense, it is possible to hear, and express, reflections upon the tonal environments and atmospheres in which these artifacts were conceived.

Image Culture

The self-reliant and self-sufficient artist is not infinitely malleable.

To such a one as this, oppression and celebrity are equally worthless in the light of the creative act.

These are appearances, nothing more, and neither death nor worldly success diminishes the reality of expression.

Degrees of Light

Every artistic effort has value, whether great or small.

Every artistic work will have greater or lesser meaning according to the will of the artist.

Lines of Demarcation

One link to Time Past and Time Future is tradition.

Observation of tradition and its elements, as an analytical means to understanding, is neutral in nature. In the simplest of artistic terms, tradition may be expressed through a variety of media according to the sensibilities of the individual artist.  What is not neutral is the artist's attitude toward tradition.

Typical attitudes are those of respect, realistic acknowledgement, or contempt. These are revealing, in that they indicate whether the artist places greater value upon the work, or upon other things such as ego, social status or ideology. The astute viewer or listener cannot fail to detect such expressions and their impact on the total effect of any work.