Monday, September 9, 2013

Reader Response: "The Whole Ball of Wax," Jerry Saltz

In his essay "The Whole Ball of Wax," Jerry Saltz explores and comments upon the daunting question of "does art change the world?"  He acknowledges that art unfortunately cannot physically halt global warming, cure AIDS, save the sea turtle, or other methods of physically changing troublesome aspects of the world.  However, he asserts that art, in fact, does change the world in other ways, "incrementally and by osmosis."  He says, "Art is a bridge to a new vision and the vision itself, a medium or matrix through which one sees the world."

I agree with Saltz's statement, and his declaration of art as "a bridge."  Art and artistic communication often acts as a translator of sorts, a changer of perspective.  A single work of art may mean one thing to a certain individual, yet something completely different interpreted by another.  It becomes a universal language that all can speak, but whose vocabulary is ceaselessly shifting.

This brings to light one of my favorite aspects of art: one must work to express oneself with it, and in traditional terms of the word, cannot fully understand it: one person's interpretation of their work may completely bypass their boundaries of definition.
   

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