Venus on Piazza Di Madonna Degli Aldobrandini, Firenze, Italia © Michael Maurer Smith 2008
Annie Dillard, in her book The Writing Life asks “How many gifts do we open from which the writer neglected to remove the price tag? Is it pertinent, is it courteous for us to learn what it cost the writer personally?” This same question can and should be asked of photographers and painters.
The amount of time and money an artist expends, writing a book, making a photograph, or painting a painting is irrelevant to its true value and meaning. Simply spending long hours on a work is not enough to elevate it to the status of Art or make it meaningful. Likewise, using sophisticated equipment, tools and techniques will not guarantee artistic merit or success.
If the poem speaks to the reader it really doesn’t matter if it took the poet five minutes or five years to write it. It doesn’t matter what brand of paint the painter used or what make of camera the photographer chose. It is the result that counts—the Art.
© Michael Maurer Smith 2009
Annie Dillard is right, and so are you. To put it another way, it’s very hard to see a painting if the artist is standing between the viewer and the canvas.
It’s a rare post that moves me to direct action, but this one did. Reading it, I remembered making a reference to the writing process in a recent comment. When I went back for a second look, I laughed at myself and deleted a handful of unnecessary words. The comment is better, and now I’m more sensitive to the issue.