Issue 31

Notes

Art is not a form of self-expression, it is a form of worship that operates by reducing self-importance and revering that which is captured by the art.

That which is captured by the art exists beyond the art and beyond the artist.

For this reason, the artist only chooses when, how, and what to worship by engaging in art-work.

When we engage with art, either as an artist performing art-work or an audience viewing art, we perform an act of worship.

For this reason, our time spent with art is sacred.

Art need not be religious because it is sacred, but the sacred roots of religion and art are the same.

Even in the most blatant instances of art intending to serve self-expression, pursuing this can never succeed.

Engaging with art in ways against this native mode always results in dissonance.

- W.B.

“Chi è quel che per forza a te mi mena,
oilmè, oilmè, oilmè,
legato e stretto, e son libero e sciolto?”

“Who leads me to you against my will
alas, alas, alas,
bound and confined, though I’m free and loose?”

- Michelangelo, untitled sextet