The Hidden Sphere
(of Artistic Concerns) Cecil Orion Touchon
19

Abandon the pursuit of cleverness
and the admiration of experts.
This will benefit the culture tremendously!

Give up dependence on the insights of critics,
ignore political correctness
and the people will begin to think for themselves.[1] 

Refrain from hero worship,
dismantle the machinery of creating superstars
and the artistic community will flourish
with richness and diversity.

When the culture is lost these symptoms proliferate.
Therefore, be advised:
restrain ambitious desires;
diminish self importance;
hold tight to simplicity; [2]
seek what is essential. [3]
 
 


footnotes

 [1]  “We have all let anthropologists, philosophers, historians, connoisseurs and mercenaries, and everybody else tell us what art is or what it should be. But I think we ought to very simply let it be what the artist says it is. And what the artist says it is, you can see by his work. I would like to leave it just like that.”

David Smith, David Smith by David Smith, 1968
 [2]  Things should be made as simple as possible, but not any simpler.
Albert Einstein
 [3]  “Every creative act requires elimination and simplification. Simplification results from a realization of what is essential.”
Hans Hofmann, Search for the real and other essays my Hans Hofmann, 1948

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 return to index


copyright 2000 Cecil Touchon all rights reserved