The sharpest dividing line between inferior and superior artists separates those who make art for fun and those who convey through art a judgment about life. The great artist does not just recreate existence: he bluntly exposes a judgment, he strips himself bare in prose or verse. He chooses the theme, builds an arc visualizing its effect, subjects the whole to a feeling or impression, impregnating the creation with a state of soul, a feeling coming from his judgment. This is why there is artificial art, weak art, which neither moves nor convinces. There are protocol artists, who play around and limit themselves to copying models, who make art out of vanity, who follow trends, who, unable to make a sincere personal judgment, make art thinking about pleasing.
The Great Artist Does Not Simply Recreate Existence
