Waiting for the Mandrakes

"The object becomes aesthetically significant when it
becomes metaphysically significant." (Joseph Campbell)

The Robert Genn newsletter is a wonderful source of art 'thought' without all that preaching that usually occures with art writeers. Twice a week I get a newsletter and this is exeerpted from the latest one. I was blown away by the Joseph Campbell interviews on PBS years ago and even bought the tapes so I could take more time and digest the ideas he talked about. But alas, I don't think I am smart enough to fet it all. Here, Robert Genn talks about Campbell talking about artists and it's very interesting to me in spite of not agreeing with all of it.

"Joseph Campbell was one of those thinkers who constantly asked
himself, "What is the meaning of this?" In books, lectures and
interviews, he made frequent skirmishes into the field of art.
And like a lot of those who never took brush to hand, his
thoughts were idealized and sometimes muddled. Campbell had
attitudes about what was "proper" art and what was not. He
thought the personal was dangerous in art. "When an artist's
images are purely personal this finally is slop and you know it
when you see it," he stated. He didn't often say what "slop"
was. He was particularly hard on portraiture--he thought
portraits were hobbled by the need to be what they represented.

At the same time, many of Campbell's insights are valuable.
Campbell saw everything through a lens of myth, metaphor and
the metaphysical. He saw "proper" artists as exalted mystics.
"The way of the mystic and the way of the artist," he said,
"are very much alike--except that the mystic does not have a
craft." In admiration, he realized that through studio
disciplines, artists deal with universals. He named a lot of
these universals--from rhythmic patterns to a sense of wonder.
He felt that proper art had to be an art that performs a
function. When this function is added to the concept of kinesis
(movement), then you have what he called "aesthetic arrest." By
this he meant that the innocent viewer is stopped dead in his
tracks and has no choice but to stare in awe. I don't know
about you, but when this occasionally happens with my work, it
sure feels good."

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