Sticks and stones

To rephrase a childhood chant: Sticks and stones may break my bones, but images can never hurt me. Art can aim at beauty, contemplation or aesthetic satisfaction, but in this current political and cultural climate art can aim to provoke, challenge and enlighten.

I don’t believe that serious art intends only to offend. There’s too much of the heart and soul of the artist in it for such a narrow intent.  Much of the history of great art is provocation to a new way of seeing and acting in the world.

I don’t believe artists intent to be martyrs either. Suffering is not their goal; but hard, committed work is. A conscience that questions the world, in whole or part, and answers in images of substance is the real work of the artist.