“Art is not finished when the artist says it is. Art must be viewed and interpreted by an audience. Sometimes it’s correctly interpreted and sometimes it’s not–that’s for the audience to decide.”
I came across this quote and it struck me. At first read, I thought, well, that’s not right. I created the art, so I decide what it actually is.
Right?
The more I thought about it and turned that quote over in my head, I realized whoever said it was actually correct. Incidentally, I can’t remember who said it and I haven’t been able to track down the original source, so if one of you is more clever than I, I’d love to find the source again.
Think about the quote, though. Your art is yours when you create it, even copyright it, and it is whatever you want it to be.
But.
To be free, art has to be released into the world for others to find. To love, to adore, to hate or roll their eyes in ambivalence.
And the moment you release a piece of art into the world it ceases to be controlled by you and ends being just yours. As readers pick up your stories they will decipher your words but the “meaning” will have weight depending on how it relates to them. They do indeed decide the measure of a story, how it strikes them, what power it has and to the extent it affects them.
Not the artist.
Ever watched a movie or read a book that just spoke to you? And then another person you call family or friend watches or reads the same thing and they agree with you in a placating nod, but you can tell it was just okay for them? Or when you did the same over some piece of “art” that wowed someone else?
Yeah.
Art really is a piece of communication. Whether it’s painted, sculpted, written, sung or drawn, you, as the artist, are telling someone something about yourself and how you see the world. In the beginning it is yours.
When you unleash it on the world you are finished with it. But, once an audience gets hold of it and ingests it, it becomes theirs, individually and collectively.
Reading and really understanding this quote was when I started looking at my stories as children. I raise them up to their potential as best I can. Not always perfectly, and some better than others, but I both give birth and raise them to “adulthood.” Then when I submit them and get them published, they are free to make their own way in the world. I can still offer guidance when asked, but they’re no longer under my control and they become their own being. Loved, hated, clever or dull, these stories all take on lives of their own becoming the best they can be.
All I can do, as the artist, is give them my best words and hope I served them well. Once they join the rest of the world, it’s up to the audience to decide their potential.
Craig