Art

"Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life."

In "Three Uses of the Knife," David Mamet makes some points that rhyme with the above Picasso statement. People need some form of story or art to tie up life's loose ends. They have a bellyfull of incomplete dramas each day, and the small hour-long ones on TV help sow things up. Or they find comfort in the misfortune of TV characters. In writing for sitcoms, they say leave all characters the same. If someone wins the lottery, he must lose it. If someone is about to move, her plans must fall through. And these things by their own folly.

We nurse off these stories daily, microwaved versions of the wholesome prepared meals people ate 100 years ago, when they read long, thick novels which took weeks to resolve. The dust wasn't cleaned up everyday, but a gradual progression toward a higher place in life brought a different satisfaction.

Mamet describes true drama as not giving the child the lollipop he cries for, i.e., not resolving. True drama leaves things untidy and makes you think and ponder yourself, your life, your journey. Fine. True drama depicts life, and the tragedy works life out from the bad end. But both ends need working, and a higher place is just as true.

If so, then art is a form counseling, and therefore a calling. If you, by art or writing, can bring a source of resolution to somebody, then you have helped him. Art brings everything together, familiar elements and situations, incomplete dramas of the day, and ties them together nicely, giving some kind of satisfaction - even if it's false. But in that false satisfaction, someone is likely to see a solution, and tomorrow tie up today's loose ends.

"We all know that art is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth." (Pablo Picasso)