When a work of painting, music or other form attains two-way communication, it is truly art. One occasionally hears an artist being criticized on the basis that his work is too 'literal' or too 'common.' But one has rarely if ever heard any definition of 'literal' or 'common.' And there are many artists simply hung up on this, protesting it. Also, some avant-garde schools go completely over the cliff in avoiding anything 'literal' or 'common'—and indeed go completely out of communication! The return flow from the person viewing a work would be contribution. True art always elicits a contribution from those who view or hear or experience it. By contribution is meant 'adding to it.’ An illustration is 'literal' in that it tells everything there is to know. Let us say the illustration is a picture of a tiger approaching a chained girl. It does not really matter how well the painting is executed, it remains an illustration and it is literal. But now let us take a small portion out of the scene and enlarge it. Let us take, say, the head of the tiger with its baleful eye and snarl. Suddenly we no longer have an illustration. It is no longer 'literal.' And the reason lies in the fact that the viewer can fit this expression into his own concepts, ideas or experience: he can supply the why of the snarl, he can compare the head to someone he knows. In short, he can CONTRIBUTE to the head. The skill with which the head is executed determines the degree of response. Because the viewer can contribute to the picture, it is art. In music, the hearer can contribute his own emotion or motion. And even if the music is only a single drum, if it elicits a contribution of emotion or motion, it is truly art.

When a work of painting, music or other form attains two-way communication, it is truly art. One occasionally hears an artist being criticized on the basis that his work is too 'literal' or too 'common.' But one has rarely if ever heard any definition of 'literal' or 'common.' And there are many artists simply hung up on this, protesting it. Also, some avant-garde schools go completely over the cliff in avoiding anything 'literal' or 'common'—and indeed go completely out of communication! The return flow from the person viewing a work would be contribution. True art always elicits a contribution from those who view or hear or experience it. By contribution is meant 'adding to it.’ An illustration is 'literal' in that it tells everything there is to know. Let us say the illustration is a picture of a tiger approaching a chained girl. It does not really matter how well the painting is executed, it remains an illustration and it is literal. But now let us take a small portion out of the scene and enlarge it. Let us take, say, the head of the tiger with its baleful eye and snarl. Suddenly we no longer have an illustration. It is no longer 'literal.' And the reason lies in the fact that the viewer can fit this expression into his own concepts, ideas or experience: he can supply the why of the snarl, he can compare the head to someone he knows. In short, he can CONTRIBUTE to the head. The skill with which the head is executed determines the degree of response. Because the viewer can contribute to the picture, it is art. In music, the hearer can contribute his own emotion or motion. And even if the music is only a single drum, if it elicits a contribution of emotion or motion, it is truly art.

L. Ron Hubbard
Save QuoteView Quote
Save Quote
Similar Quotes by l-ron-hubbard

Well I don't know that I'm okay any more than anyone else is okay, I lead a happy life and a very full one - I have a happy marriage and my kids are all cheerful, and no one is finding fault with me, personally.

L. Ron Hubbard
Save QuoteView Quote

The mind when it has an old experience will add that data into its current experience, and it keeps coming up with wrong answers.

L. Ron Hubbard
Save QuoteView Quote

A science is something which is constructed from truth on workable axioms. There are 55 axioms in scientology which are very demonstrably true, and on these can be constructed a great deal.

L. Ron Hubbard
Save QuoteView Quote

I have seen life from the top down and the bottom up. I know how it looks both ways. And I know there is wisdom and that there is hope.

L. Ron Hubbard
Save QuoteView Quote

Happiness is the overcoming of not unknown obstacles toward a known goal.

L. Ron Hubbard
Save QuoteView Quote

Happiness is the overcoming of not unknown obstacles toward a known goal.

L. Ron Hubbard
Save QuoteView Quote

Happiness is the overcoming of not unknown obstacles toward a known goal.

L. Ron Hubbard
Save QuoteView Quote

Happiness is the overcoming of not unknown obstacles toward a known goal.

L. Ron Hubbard
Save QuoteView Quote

Man is an endangered species.

L. Ron Hubbard
Save QuoteView Quote

Choice is the keynote of self-determinism. To determine anything, you must have the choice to determine. Choice to determine means that you must have the power of decision. Decision and time have a lot in common. When we have clean, clear decision, we have clean, clear time. And when we have indecision, there is an unclarity about time.

L. Ron Hubbard
Save QuoteView Quote