A few questions were raised earlier about an artist's level of skill in regards to mediating the intented vision. Every writer, painter, musician, etc. has to start somewhere, and the lack of skill will inevitably inpede the process of mediation - for no matter how clear the mental picture is, the words will fail, the brush will falter and the violin will stay off-tune. Thus the beginning steps will be frustrating, as the vision shines firm, but the skill is void... and so, many painstaking hours of practise will be needed before the pieces will even begin to approach their intented places in the grand picture, that nebulous image which would allow glimpses into this fabled "true vision".
It has been said - about the unmatured artists - that despite their lack of skill, even the seemingly failed attempts might be worth something for the audience, as these as-of-yet unskilled invidiuals are prone to wild experimentation. All art is experimentation, goes the famous saying, but in my experience the flailing amateurs have an extra dose of this 'artistic spirit' - and thus, amongst the piles of manure, a sparkling gem of authenticity could sometimes - albeit rarely - be found. I cannot say I have ever experienced such unexpected gems myself, in my path of mediating vision(s), but there are some examples that I consider higher in quality compared to others, when considering their early, unmatured nature. One such case is "Crawzinscky's Theory of Isolation", whose experimental cover art one can see at the beginning of this post. The aforementioned story was written shortly after the first (technically failed) novel was completed, hitting the sweet-spot of "far from perfected, yet free from the worst mistakes" -category. What of Sublimation and its relation to mediation then, the fragile triangle of authenticity-skill-knowledge? First, I think, it should be established what is meant by these terms. Sublimation needs not explanation for those well-versed in psychoanalytics. Mediation, in my own terminology, refers to the mediation of the inner image or vision, of which I have briefly talked about in the previous posts. Mediation is a tricky thing however, something akin to the act of carefully constructing an elaborate monument while lacking guidance, plans, or instructions of any kind. It's all up to the artist as to how construct their mental image, what tools to use, what medium to indulge in, and which days (or even which years of life) to dedicate in this gruelling process. What's made worse with this task, is the accumulation of knowledge and life-experience, which will inevitably change how the outcome will end up. People go through tumultuous periods in their lives all the time - most notably during youth - and so, if starting a grand quest of relaying some sublime inner vision early in age, something which may take years, the very artist himself will have changed so drastically during this time that the end result could be something entirely else than what the vision initially looked like. This, is what I refer to as authenticity altered by change, the change being both on the subjective (inner personality change, gain of knowledge) and objective (the very passage of time, altering of [living] location, and so on). If the artist tries to remain within the confines of his first authentic vision (which will warp along the waves of change, as we've discussed), then which one really is, ultimately, the "most" authentic vision? Will it be the initial one, as the artist struggles to remember the time of his past, or the current, changed one, and the artist is helpless to resist this passage of time, doomed to mediate the ever-changing image, offering snippets of this process with tenuous fragments, such as short stories, hasty drawings, or perhaps improvised musical pieces, produced at the heat of the moment? I do not know the answer to these questions. My own experiences, knowledge, and (hopefully) skill have all grown substantially as time has passed on. There's no going back, I feel, even as the initial themes remain the same. The unforgiving, uncaring universe will never fade into obscurity, that is made certain by life's consistent cruelty - and if one was in need of a reminder, there's never a shortage of multitude of horridness hidden just beneath the surface of everyday life. One just needs to quiet down and listen, and the nightmares will reveal themselves.
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A.K
Gothic fiction novelist Archives
July 2023
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