John McCracken

I was thinking about the work we saw yesterday by John McCracken at the Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh, and about how it changes depending on where it is displayed and also by the presence of each individual viewer. Right now I'm reading "The Picture of Dorian Gray" and the work somehow reminded me of a bit of the preface to the book that I found quite interesting:

"All art is at once surface and symbol. Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril. Those who read the symbol do so at their peril. It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors. Diversity of opinion about a work of art shows that the work is new, complex, and vital. When critics disagree, the artist is in accord with himself. We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it. The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely.

All art is quite useless."

Oscar Wilde

Kiki Smith