Life is what we make of it and what we each see in it. So look around you always with eyes wide open.
A tramp sits at the corner of the curb. His face is fatigued and rough. He is all crouched up like a ball. His eyes look mean and red. I can almost feel his rough clothes against his bare legs
This could be the motive of a great and beautiful work of art. The subject may be beautiful or ugly but the beauty of a work of art is in the work itself, the feeling it creates.
It is not easy to know it when you see it, or it might strike you like a ton of bricks but you must feel it to know it.
This feeling or emotion that is created exists in all forms of art. Perhaps today it is seen easiest through music. The moods created by music is easy to feel. In history the early Egyptians created the Sphinx. Today viewers are still left with that feeling of a sense of time from it, out of the ordinary as something of very great measure, forever giving a peculiar feeling of awe in its presence. Probably the same feeling the Egyptian slaves felt when they viewed it in 2500 B.C.
It has been said that when Rembrandt drew it was his inner spirit that pushed the pencil around. What they mean is that his drawings came from within his mind. All art work should be done from memory. The memory is composed of that vital moment of feeling. The original mood must be held to. When there is a model before the artist, the artist must see only that in the model which helps him to build up his memory and mood. He may refer to the model but he should not let the different moods he feels disrupt his memory. The picture must not become a patchwork of parts of various moods. This takes a lot of focus.
The following represents the writings and thoughts of some of the worlds famous artists and their thoughts and beliefs on the meaning of art. Although their art works and views may vary their basic premise of art remains the same.
