Clarity Can Be An Enemy Of Art

If something can be easily understood, it can be easily dismissed, which may explain why many artists appear to get rather vague when asked to explain the genesis of their creations or what they mean.

"It means whatever it means to you," one often hears.




Or, in the case of conceptual art, one is often provided with lengthy, detailed explanations that frequently appear totally unrelated to the work in question.  The mystery of what one is gazing upon only deepens, but viewers are afraid to say so fearing they will be put down as "unable to get it" and therefore not too bright.

These notions came to mind initially late last year when "T," the New York Times Style Magazine released it's annual "Greats" issue, which editor Hanya Yanagihara termed "the apotheosis [or perfect example] of what this magazine tries to be every issue: a conversation between artists of different mediums."

I'm only now getting around to writing about it.

The extent to which a bunch of articles on different topics printed in linear juxtaposition constitutes a "conversation" between them is open to question, but the notion probably at a minimum makes Ms. Yanagihara feel better about her job of creating a suitable vehicle for a host of glossy ads for very expensive products and services.

In her introduction to the 2019 "Greats" issue, Ms Yanagihara puzzled over where a piece of art comes from -- what's the "origin story?"

"Answering that question can be a frustrating experience," she writes. "Either your response is so straightforward as to deflate your work of it's magic [that which is easily understood is easily dismissed] or it is so opaque, even to you the artist, that it defies articulation [whatever it means to you is what it means]."

And that's pretty much where she lets the matter stand, turning to "conversations" with the assertion that "whether they are discussing their sources of inspiration or not, creative people, no matter their medium, have in common an essential and fierce desire to communicate, whether through beauty or provocation or both."

These days, since beauty, a casualty of political correctness, has become essentially meaningless, it is largely through provocation.