POST # 2
There have been numerous comments made with respect to the meaning of the Christos' Gates currently being shown at Central Park in New York City. Mulling this issue for myself I reconnected with a book called The Art Spirit by Robert Henri that is relevant to this topic. His wise words are notable and quotable.
Art when really understood is the province of every human being.
It is simply a question of doing things, anything, well. It is not an outside, extra thing.
When the artist is alive in any person, whatever his kind of work may be, he becomes an inventive, searching, daring, self-expressing creature. He becomes interesting to other people. He disturbs, upsets, enlightens, and he opens ways for a better understanding. Where those who are not artists are trying to close the book, he opens it, shows where there are still more pages possible.
The world would stagnate without him, and the world would be beautiful with him; for he is interesting to himself and he is interesting to others. He does not have to be a painter or sculptor to be an artist. He can work in any medium. He simply has to find the gain in the work itself, not outside it.
Museums of art will not make a country an art country. But where there is the art spirit there will be precious works to fill museums. Better still, there will be the happiness that is in the making. Art tends towards balance, order, judgment of relative values, the laws of growth, the economy of living - very good things for anyone to be interested in.
Thus Henri strongly implies that art - such as the Christos Gates - is extremely valuable for anyone who cares to be in its presence - as it likely to stir the art spirit in all those latent artists {human beings} who are stir-able.
Christo says that The Gates don't have any meaning. Ellsworth Kelly, a minimalist abstract artist, once said to me that the happiest moment of his life was when he realized that his art didn't have to mean anything.
The only art form that can't get away from meaning something specific is poetry. Not that there weren't serious attempts to do it by using nonsense syllables, but word imply meaning and there's no getting around this.
There hasn't exactly been a battle against meaning, but for nearly 100 years there has definitely been an aesthetic among many artists that requires "purity" which means -- no meaning.
Posted by: MJ | February 16, 2005 at 08:59 AM