I think there’s a tendency to see art as mimetic, that is to say, it imitates reality.
You could say, metaphysically, that art produces facsimiles of reality, albeit at times imperfect ones.
But I think that model is limited. Art – whether it is fine art, music, literature, photography or film, goes beyond the given. It doesn’t just picture reality.
There’s a poem by the late Wallace Stevens called “The Man With The Blue Guitar.”
Here’s some Google…
The line “You do not play things as they are” originates from the opening stanza of Wallace Stevens’s 1937 modernist poem, The Man with the Blue Guitar.
Meaning and Context
The Critique: The audience in the poem challenges the musician, stating that his blue guitar alters reality rather than reflecting it plainly.
The Reply: The musician responds with “Things as they are are changed upon the blue guitar.”
The Philosophy: Art does not simply copy the physical world; instead, imagination and perception transform reality to help us see underlying truths
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Do you agree? Disagree? Please say in the comments. Thank you.
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