Listed Artists Gallery
(227 miles NW of Minneapolis and St. Paul MN)
Downtown Fargo, North Dakota. #6 Broadway, PH: (701) 451-9111
(227 miles NW of Minneapolis and St. Paul MN)
Downtown Fargo, North Dakota. #6 Broadway, PH: (701) 451-9111
NW of Twin Cities - Downtown Fargo, ND
John D. Graham
From System and Dialectics of Art:
Why does an artist create?
Artist creates because of (conscious or unconscious) desire to arrest motion and to contemplate; because it is a joy to create. The source of creation is sorrow. An ability to suffer is a gift, a gift possessed by few. Talent deprived of the gift of sorrow, produce only near-values Capacity of perception depends greatly on capacity to suffer. Suffering is the measure of one's genius. Suffering extends the limits of consciousness.
What is the relationship of art to religion?
Art and religion have been united from the beginning of all civilization, because of the common mystery of their origin and their magical effect on humanity. Etymologically they are allied. The latin term "ars" was at first used in connection with religion and magic and only later disassociated itself from them both to acquire its specific meaning. Art is individual expression of social phenomena, religion was the social expression of individual phenomena.
Is art static or dynamic?
A great work of art is always static. A dynamic state is the natural state of things and there is no accomplishment in falling in with eternal motion, the heroic feat is to arrest motion by stupendous effort and to contemplate.
What is the relationship of genius to insanity?
Genius and insanity being mutually opposed find in their extremes, points of approachment-"from the sublime to the ridiculous is but one step." The danger involved in this proximity makes genius only more valuable and more fascinating. However, fundamentally there is a basic difference: genius is order supreme (frequently a chaotic order) while insanity is a supreme disorder. Insanity is an excessive preoccupation with details to the detriment of the whole. Genius is the very opposite. Genius often is subject to organic ailments, such as epilepsy, which is only natural considering the strain of gigantic mental work and enormous opposition. Being an exception genius is not normality. Literally the insane person is one whose conscious mind has been engulfed by his subconscious. Genius of one whose conscious mind works with his unconscious.
What is posterity?
Posterity is an unknown quantity, posterity is an accident. One cannot say that time will determine the value of a work of art because time is not existent and is used only as a measure of space. Due to the accidental nature of posterity, its exaltation of a particular work of art has no more significance than its condemnation. Saints observe no clocks.
What is time?
Time as an independent element does not exist. Time is a charactaristic, an adjective, a coefficient of space. Time is a modus to measure and record the changes taking place in space.
Time, as a modus, is not quantitative but qualitative. The time-measure is not a positive unit. Time units are greater or smaller in direct proportion to our access to the unconscious and to the elasticity of our unconscious. Thus an hour-measure registering the same mechanical elapse of minutes is virtually different and larger to a child, a native of Central Africa, to a genius than to an adult city dweller. A child or a primitive can wedge-in many space-units between the minutes to expand hour-form into a trapezoid with endless potentialities rather than a uniform rectangle.
Why does an artist create?
Artist creates because of (conscious or unconscious) desire to arrest motion and to contemplate; because it is a joy to create. The source of creation is sorrow. An ability to suffer is a gift, a gift possessed by few. Talent deprived of the gift of sorrow, produce only near-values Capacity of perception depends greatly on capacity to suffer. Suffering is the measure of one's genius. Suffering extends the limits of consciousness.
What is the relationship of art to religion?
Art and religion have been united from the beginning of all civilization, because of the common mystery of their origin and their magical effect on humanity. Etymologically they are allied. The latin term "ars" was at first used in connection with religion and magic and only later disassociated itself from them both to acquire its specific meaning. Art is individual expression of social phenomena, religion was the social expression of individual phenomena.
Is art static or dynamic?
A great work of art is always static. A dynamic state is the natural state of things and there is no accomplishment in falling in with eternal motion, the heroic feat is to arrest motion by stupendous effort and to contemplate.
What is the relationship of genius to insanity?
Genius and insanity being mutually opposed find in their extremes, points of approachment-"from the sublime to the ridiculous is but one step." The danger involved in this proximity makes genius only more valuable and more fascinating. However, fundamentally there is a basic difference: genius is order supreme (frequently a chaotic order) while insanity is a supreme disorder. Insanity is an excessive preoccupation with details to the detriment of the whole. Genius is the very opposite. Genius often is subject to organic ailments, such as epilepsy, which is only natural considering the strain of gigantic mental work and enormous opposition. Being an exception genius is not normality. Literally the insane person is one whose conscious mind has been engulfed by his subconscious. Genius of one whose conscious mind works with his unconscious.
What is posterity?
Posterity is an unknown quantity, posterity is an accident. One cannot say that time will determine the value of a work of art because time is not existent and is used only as a measure of space. Due to the accidental nature of posterity, its exaltation of a particular work of art has no more significance than its condemnation. Saints observe no clocks.
What is time?
Time as an independent element does not exist. Time is a charactaristic, an adjective, a coefficient of space. Time is a modus to measure and record the changes taking place in space.
Time, as a modus, is not quantitative but qualitative. The time-measure is not a positive unit. Time units are greater or smaller in direct proportion to our access to the unconscious and to the elasticity of our unconscious. Thus an hour-measure registering the same mechanical elapse of minutes is virtually different and larger to a child, a native of Central Africa, to a genius than to an adult city dweller. A child or a primitive can wedge-in many space-units between the minutes to expand hour-form into a trapezoid with endless potentialities rather than a uniform rectangle.
