The Purpose of Art

Painting by Gerhard Richter

“My role in society, or any artist’s or poet’s role, is to try and express what we all feel. Not to tell people how to feel. Not as a preacher, not as a leader, but as a reflection of us all.”

~ John Lennon

By having the courage to stand for one’s own experience, one begins to give real being to the soul. Everything depends on the individual’s ability to stand for their own experience(symptoms, suffering and accomplishments) in the face of the world that gives these things no credit. — James Hillman

“If I create from the heart, nearly everything works; if from the head, almost nothing.”Marc Chagall

Art restores the world to its irreducible wholeness from the parcelling and privations of the mind. Art is a love letter to the world, address unknown. — James Hillman

This last week we went to Texas from San Miguel. We have been living in a modest apartment without my paintings and without Cynthia’s cooking accouterments, which have been in storage in Texas. We caught a ride with a friend whose visa was expiring, riding three abreast in his pickup that is decorated stem to stern with Mexican art. We were stopped by Mexican Federales once, but they only wanted to take pictures.