Artist's intention Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Artist's intention - Essay Example New Criticism is even more aptly applied to the fine arts because of the elevated level of abstraction involved which indicates that it is probably impossible to understand a work solely through the artistic intention. To assume that it is possible to understand a work of art solely by understanding the intent of the artist is to also to make a leap of faith that the artist is being completely honest about his intent. How many people every day do things for one reason, but say they did them for another reason. Jeff Koons, for instance, is famous for having a team of â€Å"assistants† who do much of his work for him (Avgikos 137). How many more artists do the same thing, or something else which can bring their honesty into question, without making it part of their artistic persona. Should one trust the stated intent of an artist more than a used car salesman? Are they not both, ultimately, in the business of selling their wares? Even when an artist is being utterly honest about his intent that intention must still be called into question. Freud’s theory of subconscious drives has long stopped being controversial; anyone who has ever thrown up their hands in frustration and said they couldn’t explain why they did something intuitively realizes the authenticity of subconscious urges and drives. The process of painting or sculpting is a process of the application of the mind to the hand and if the actions of the hand contains little mystery, it must be admitted that the landscape of the mind is fraught with mystery. The subconscious mind is littered with the memories that have been forgotten by the conscious mind; there is within the brain any number drives that are not realized by the conscious mind that can be interrupting that transmission to the hand. In very few cases do artists admit that they are working simply for money. In the capitalist system of the 20th century, especially, when the starving artist clichà ©