paint it black

[cust_support]

I have been procrastinating discussing form v. meaning. I can't put it
off any longer. It is related to the subject of dreams. Formalism was a
hot topic when totally abstract art was new. Artists intended to create
a work of art totally aesthetic, without any meaning whatever. That's
the intent behind abstract art. Critics resented this, took it as a
challenge. They said, "If a psychological ink blot test can be
interpreted, then randomly applied paint-on-canvas can be interpreted,
too." They proceded to do just that.
The argument applies to dreams. The dreamer has no prior intent. Most
dreamers don't control their dreams. The dream interpreter comes along
after the fact and presumes to find meaning in the dream. Dream
"interpretation" is therefore criticism. Really, if your dreams have
meaning, it's not truly a dream, but a form of creative story telling.
This, then, leads to the inverse of the question. If dreams are
spontaneous, not creative, then intentional creativity (like painting)
is not meaningless, and therefore fair game for critics. I mean,
artists are not sleepwalking. The first cause in the chain of events
leading to the creation of the work of art is an act of will. The
artist deliberately picks up the brush. Art doesn't just happen, like
dreams.
So, art critics play a guessing game with artists. What does the artist
mean? The dreamer, conversely, really doesn't have an intention.
Psychologists let patients do all the talking. Talking is creative
elaboration on the spontaneous dream. The patient gives the dream
meaning, where there was none before, with the passive audience of the
psychologist. But dreams are not art, as art is not a dream.
*
I was in the desert. I was demonstrating a technique for making a
non-representaional picture. A picture that doesn't look like anything.
That's like an oxymoron. I said to the attendees,
"We will use this thorn bush as subject."
They complained about the sharp thorns. "Why?"
I said,
"Thorns cause pain, which stimulates sensitivity."
I seem to have lost them at that point. I continued working. I produced
a panel, entirely black, like a sheet of graphite.
"See?" I said, "This is a token of feeling -nothing else."