On Photography
Worthless
What good are the arts? It's a conclusive question postulated by a soulless age that lay unanswerable; Nothing nada, zero, for good in a politically charged age means "pragmatic value." Art has no such thing. All art is no good. It has no pragmatic value.
Art like the gifts of St. Peter cannot be so bought or sold. Art cannot be "used." It is useless.
This definition of art rests on a threefold
nature of all created reality; the good, the true, and the beautiful.
The mimetic quality of art is its whole spiritual value. It is to be
associated by what is, not defined by what it isn't. Who can explain
the use of a golden sunset
over a deep blue sea? The reason murmur resonates like poetry in the
mind. The revelry and pleasure in melody? What use is color? What good
is the excellence of flawless script? All these are valuable in
themselves, Being is its own
justification. They are good because they
are. The beautiful can be no threat to either the good or true for they
are an inseparable whole. To seek the beautiful is to seek the good.
And both are the revelation of the true.
Art is first order experience. It plays
directly on the heart and mind as nothing else.
On every side we have corrupted art. Art to illustrate to sell products, causes, liaisons and romance. And God knows what else. Prostituted, Art today sells politics and sets agendas.
We've forgotten what must never be forgotten, useless Art is as spiritual life, and adornment of soul.
© 2006 Timothy Martin Gillan
Photography
