Art is a transformative activity.
It may seem like an artist looks at a thing and uses pencil or paint to portray an image of the thing. It may seem that what is going on is recording. But no two “recordings”, even of identical things turn out the same under an artist’s hand. Clearly, there is interpretation and transformation going on. And what does that say about the work of art? what the artist is hoping to achieve? and what we as viewers are supposed to make of it?
In every artistic work (sculpture, dance, piece of music etc.) there is something that germinated in the artist’s sensibility to create the work. Something that may be a very direct product of physical experience or an emotional or psychological experience but, in any case, something that cannot ever be entirely separated from reality. To say that a work of art is entirely fantastic and nonsense denies its reality as a work of art. Rather, it is a transformation of reality through the imagination and technique of the artist and we as viewers make sense of the work by linking, as the artists did, the reality with the transformed image.
“Great” art can take many forms but its greatness is in the relativity of its connection to a common sensibility, its ability to communicate directly or to introduce a new way of communicating.
