Do the work – find the answer.

In the spirit of the previous post…

[RANT ON]

“Dogmatism of all kinds–scientific, economic, moral, as well as political–are threatened by the creative freedom of the artist. This is necessarily and inevitably so. We cannot escape our anxiety over the fact that the artists together with creative persons of all sorts, are the possible destroyer of our nicely ordered systems.” — Rollo May (The Courage to Create)

One of the fascinating things about artistic endeavor is that the various avenues develop their own particular structures and principles as they are explored, stretched, and tested. I believe these codifications stem from inherent limitations and strengths in the chosen medium, but far from being restrictive, they become stabilizing principles. These internal dynamics, if respected, can prompt powerful and profound works of art that transcend rather than demolish because they rest on a far deeper foundation. Art may be iconoclastic, but it is by definition a creative, generative act. Not a destructive one.

Creativity is not static. Art must move forward, and the debate over the ‘rightness or wrongness’ of technique, substance and motivation will only be resolved in continuing acts of creativity by individual artists, not by applying cut and dry standards of earlier iterations in the medium. Principles remain inviolate; applications do not. The genuine effectiveness of a particular piece rest in its character, not it’s cosmetics, with the final verdict rendered from the vastly different perspective of Eternity.

The friction between dogma and grace has haunted humanity from the Beginning. The goal here is not dominance, but balance.

“Without vision nothing is birthed; without structure nothing survives.” attrib. Os Guinness.

[RANT OFF]