In 1966, I had the opportunity to ask Dr. Mortimer J.
Adler the question of what was the
function of art.He took the opportunity
to answer in an article in the Washington Daily News.His response, drawn from the authors of the
Great Books of the Western World, presented multiple views of the function of
art.From Sigmund Freud’s view that it
is primarily a matter of emotion or subconscious expression, to Leo Tolstoy’s
view that it is a spiritual communication.
It was the view
that “Art is Useless” that gives meaning
to my artwork.Quoting Dr. Adler, “
Still another conception denies that art should serve political, moral, or
educations ends.This view holds that
the only value of a work of art lies in its esthetic quality, this is the so
called “art-for-art’s-sake” theory …..The American painter James Whistler
expressed this view when he said in 1890 ‘Art should be independent of all
clap-trap—should stand alone, and appeal to the artistic sense of eye and ear,
without confounding this with emotions entirely foreign to it.’Oscar Wilde-another exponent of art-for-art’s-sake-put
it as bluntly: “All art is quite useless.’This was his dramatic way of saying that art should be expected to
perform no other function than to provide mankind with the enjoyment of beauty.”
I hope that you, the visitor to my website, can look at
my “useless” art and find an enjoyment of the beauty that I try to portray when I
paint.Welcome to my website.