Subject: RE: Daumier-Smith and Empathy
From: Andy Norris (AndyNorris@tireswing.net)
Date: Wed Jul 25 2001 - 13:14:14 GMT
This is a pretty frequently-discussed topic. The teaching assistant who
attempts to justify their position by bringing out every pebble of
potential meaning they've ever heard v. the student that says, "anything is
art."
I'm somewhere inbetween. Looking for meaning in something has value in
itself. Sharing that does no harm to whomever you share it with. As much as
Zazie doesn't like the voice of the pedantic scholar asserting meaning
where it may or may not exist, I dislike the voice of the precocious
student who says there's no meaning. I used to be that student, and I
recognize in that petulant, immature voice (that used to be mine) a smug
laziness. A sense of superiority. By saying there's no meaning that they
see, they're implying that they are smarter than not only the person
attempting to dig out the meaning, but also the author who may not even
know that they put that meaning there!
I've written stories and poems and had teachers and other students (years
ago) come back in the critique session and be spot on with what they found
that I had no idea was there. Everybody who's taken writing classes or
workshops or shared their work with others has had that experience. If you
haven't, perhaps they were kindly letting you know by not saying anything
that they honestly found no meaning in your work!
Looking for meaning in something is not necessarily a stuffy academic
exercise. A friend and I were on a business trip last year. We opted to
drive 12 hours rather than fly and we wound up listening to the Beatles'
"Abbey Road" many many times, while looking for meaning. We were convinced
that the first side of the album was a complete story. We might have been
onto something, and we might not have. But we had fun. We were entertained.
And I think that's pretty close to the bottom line of the answer to the
question, "What is art?" Art is a diversion.
Andy
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