In his 1969 book Artworks and Packages (Dell Publishing) Harold Rosenberg made a very succinct throw-away comment “ … the possibility that the total victory of the media will lead to the monopoly of a single type of imagination.” It is a succinct and alarming reality today. I have for many years said that humanity is ruled by its imagination and nations evolve through the unique imagination of some brilliant individuals and some powerfully imaginative societies where there are flowerings of a group in the same epoch. I never really stopped to consider that imagination is as varied as we care to make it, never homogeneous, always impressive, restless and ahead of its time. These characteristics of course, are antagonistic to the fiscal need for uniformity, stability and a status quo that permits of forward planning. The arts are, inherently, the warring party within the monetary system and the greatest condemnation of the visual arts world today is the number of artists who genuflect towards it.
And I am not talking about the vision if one artist vis-a-vis another. There are hundreds of painters and sculptors all doing ‘their thing’ but imagination governs their journey. Given that where one chooses to start almost always dictates the conclusions one draws, that journey is the most important aspect of the creative life. Outside of the studio the visual artist has to engage with imaginations that have nothing to do with the impetus of their imaginations. Obviously there is more than one kind of imagination at work. That which is self-interested and that which is universally interested.
So what are we talking about here? World view? Political, gender or social bias? Ego? I am sure they all have a part to play as do the questions; do I want / need fame?
Today media run by self interest rules the visual arts galleries and museums at the national levels. Culture has become a diktat not a naturally evolving process. Children are conditioned at schools so as not to be too imaginative and those who, for whatever reason, are not good at schooling, are not considered very important by the governing bodies all of whom are rules by the rigid rationale of income and expenditure. Artists who are not a part of that rationale are considered to be hobbyists and you will not find a single politician in the world today who will be able to point to a visual artist and tell you why they will be remembered. Differing imaginations, it seems, have yet to invent a language in which they can talk to each other.
Daniel Benshana
