Considering Art: A Statement For Artists
In the 1995 film, Ghost in the Shell (a remarkably intelligent film), the main character, Motoko Kusanagi is obsessed with her own limitations. In a future cyberpunk world, where technology has evolved to the point where the human mind can be transferred to entirely machine bodies, she remains remarkably limited, “I feel confined, only free to expand myself within boundaries”. In a cosmos of information, we can spend our entire lives pursuing information but are seemingly, inescapably contained by our physical nature. What then does this pursuit of information, of knowledge, amount to?
Is it that our actions are rendered meaningless in the face of the infinite complexity or reality, and is the concept of truth ridiculous given the inadequacy of our limited tools? Is life truly absurd as the philosopher Albert Camus thought? Perhaps, but absurdity does not ensure meaninglessness, nor does it ensure the denial of access to the truth. Rather, there are strata of truth, one of which I will focus on now: Personal truth and its enactment, authenticity.
Rene Descartes famously said, “I think therefore, I am”. And while that may mean that the act of thought, internal language as commonly defined, may require a thinker, this can be expanded beyond explicit thought. To perceive at all, either the external world or the internal subjective experience of being, requires one who is perceiving. So one could just as easily say, I perceive therefore, I am.
This internal subjective experience is a form or strata of truth. If you are angry, that is a fact. It is true then, that you are angry. The criteria for that being true, only demands that the experience of anger is present. You are angry, and that is true.
This does not mean however, that your anger is a justified, necessary, or a proportionate reaction to the external world. Life is not pure subjectivity, an external reality exists, but in this article I will focus on this strata - of which there are many.
I love art. Music, film, drawing and photography. All of these mediums have a place under the general umbrella of art, but there are certainly forms of these mediums that we wouldn’t consider art. Art is, I would say, an expression of truth - personal authentic truth, or novel accurate statements about the world and our experience in it. In other words, art is a true representation of the internal experience. The inner horror of Zdzisław Beksiński’s paintings. The outpouring of heartbreak in Jeff Buckley’s rendition of Hallelujah. The tortured vulnerability in Good Will Hunting. All of these works share a common thread - the expression of one’s experience - what it is to be you, and as a consequence, to be.
While the higher forms of art are generally, technically impressive (the technology being used to more clearly express one’s experience, where simplicity would otherwise fail to capture the state) and novel (in order to capture the experience in a way that isn’t banal or cliche, so that others may be drawn into your life where otherwise the art could be ignored), the budding artist, while still having a responsibility to better hone their craft, push cultural boundaries, and better shine light on personal experience, has a primary responsibility to truth.
Truth is the primary aim of art, and the ability to highlight one’s personal truth demands authenticity, the honest expression of self, free from porcelain persona and self deceit. To obscure the truth, both in the exterior and internal world, would be tantamount to skewering the roots of the creative tree. One cannot create art, if one’s vision is obscured by falsity. Only specters of art could emerge, shadows of reality made opaque by one’s tainted perspective. And this is the primary call to arms of this essay: Artists accept, see, speak, and express the truth to the best of their ability, so that their art may reflect the nature of reality and their authentic experience. Be relentlessly committed to the truth. See your life untainted by the desire to control other’s perspectives of yourself and the desire to see yourself as something other than what you are. Then, express that clear reality wholly, unrestrained, and with great passion. And watch your art emerge from the truth.
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Today on the podcast, we are joined by Joe Jackowski. Joe is a Marine Corps veteran and current graduate student at Vanderbilt University in the Cognitive Psychology in Context program. His primary interest is meaning in life, which broadly extends to problems in ethics, A.I., and culture.
In this episode, we sit down to discuss his first long-form article on his new sub stack, Apotheosis: A Philosophy for Influencers