Steve's Three Rules of Art

"Art is why I get up in the morning. My definition ends there." - Ani Difranco

1. Art is where I find it.



The experience of art is inherently subjective and reflects the great variety of bio-cultural influences from which we create our personalities. Art is self-identifying like subcultural affiliation. At the very least, Marcel Duchamp showed us that the artistic experience is a relationship between the artist, the piece and the audience. This relationship can be subtle and deeply personal, so no one of us can predict the quality of that relationship in another person. Therefore, art is not where *you* find it, but where *I* find it.




2. Good art moves me.



We consider the tragic film as worthy as the comedy. I love the songs that make me cry as much as I love the songs that make me dance. Art pieces which celebrate the dark and seedy are as powerful as cathedrals built as monuments to human perfectibility. I consider a work of art "good" if it provokes emotion in me, and I make no judgement as to the quality of that emotion. I generally prefer to be happy, so I prefer to expose myself to art that tends to make me feel that way. However, this rule gives me a measuring stick by which I can compare art in various media and from various backgrounds, based on my relative emotional experience.




3. Great art moves me in new ways upon repeated consideration.



Some of my favorite albums completely baffled me upon early listening. I didn't laugh at "Pootie Tang" the first time I watched it. Aimee Mann's mid-90s hit, "That's Just What You Are" sounds fresh and different to me from time to time as my marriage becomes ever better seasoned. I do not "interpret" great art: great art reflects me. This is the reason great art lingers through time and becomes classical. We see new subtleties in the Mona Lisa, and we keep discovering Romeo and Juliet in our hearts, a few hundred years later. I believe art, at its core, is an instinctual activity. Artists simply can't help themselves. "To create and express" is as good an answer as any to the question of "why are we here?" So the greatest of art reveals its true depth slowly, and only with time and space.