| Thunderbird@21stcentury.net This has been such a rich and
thought-provoking salon - thanks to all! But I have a few thoughts on
fragments, what they represent, and why they might be even more appealing
to some individuals than rugs (or sculpture, or paintings) in perfect
condition. It is well known that the Romantics thrived on ruins, for they
expressed the ravages and softening of time. Looking at a ruin sets the
mind free, lets it imagine the hands that built it, the people who walked
its halls, the sieges it withstood and the battles finally lost. Thus with
fragments: sorrow and respect for the missing hands that wove it, for the
brave camel it decorated, for the passing feet that wore it practically
into the ground. Generations came and went, yet the artist speaks to us
still, and we answer with love well-earned. Can we know what that artist
meant to say, what she "intended"? Could one say better, her art is merely
the tip of an iceberg that is the creative mind - and how much of that is
visible to the eye only? How much truly can be known? But the creative
mind belongs to the viewer also, who with thoughtfulness, humility and an
open heart, answers the artist's call. Art is not just made by artists! It
is also made by the people who thrill to the dance, who listen rapt to the
symphony, who treasure the beat-up old rag that speaks yet of horses
thundering across the plain and the smoky comfort of the tent at night.
ANY piece of these old treasures has value and meaning, beauty and
signficance. They come to us across time; in spite of warfare and chaos
and death they still sing. Listen to them. |