Medardo Rosso

"What the artist must aim at above all else is this: to produce, by any process whatever, a work which by the life and humanity emanating from it communicates to the beholder . . . ."

— Medardo Rosso

Italian Sculptor

1858 - 1928

Ecce Puer
Behold the Boy
(1906)

Who is the audience for your creative work?  This is a question I have struggled with for years.  Is there an audience for my work?  Is there someone who understands what I am communicating?  First, poetry has a very small readership in this country.  So the audience from which I can draw my readership is very small.  Second, finding this readership is very difficult.  One would hope that one could find a readership among other poets, but there are many people who write poetry who have never read it.  Third, what I write does not fit within the historical categories of poetry.  I don't rhyme or follow western forms.  I did spend seven years writing and studying Japanese haiku which many in the west perceive as an exercise for school children.  So after 35 years of writing, I have yet to find an audience for my writing who will stand in line for six hours to buy my next book.  In fact, there are days I can't give it away.  But I don't let the lack of an audience stop me from writing.  I keep writing and believing that one day someone will read and appreciate.

Wassily Kandinsky

"The artist must have something to say, for mastery over form is not his goal but rather the adapting of form to its inner meaning."

— Wassily Kandinsky

Russian Artist

1866 - 1944

When I graduated from college, I wanted to be a writer, but I had no idea what to write about. I had nothing to say — nothing that I wanted to say.  I had an idea about writing a historical novel about a sleeping preacher who had lived at the beginning of the 20th century.  Maybe through the life of someone else, I would find something to write about.  The novel never materialized.  I failed at the research.

Creative leaders must have something to say — something that needs saying.  If we focus on form but have no substance, we will not be successful.  Substance has the power to overcome weak technique, but technique cannot support a lack of substance.

What are you trying to communicate with your art?  What is the message that you want to deliver to the world.  What is the substance of your writing?  Or have you allowed your mastery of technique to overshadow the substance?

Composition X
(1939)

Henry Moore

"Between beauty of expression and power of expression there is a difference of function.  The first aims at pleasing the senses, the second has a spiritual vitality which for me is more moving and goes deeper than the senses."

— Henry Moore

British Sculptor

1898 - 1986

Which is more important the beauty of what is said or the power of what is said?  I agree with Moore that the impact of what is communicated is more important than the beauty with which it is communicated.  It doesn't matter whether you are talking art, literature or music.  Too much emphasis in our culture has been put on beauty.  Form often wins out over substance.  For me, the substance of the art matters more.  The spiritual aspect of the communication is more important than the surface beauty.  Some works of art have both beauty and substance.  But if I must choose, I choose substance over beauty.  When you look at a painting, listen to music or read a novel, what is more important to you:  what is said or how it is said?