The Point

Driving home today as Annie Lennox's Medusa was playing on the CD player my buddy Sean asked me if I had ever heard a cover as good as the original to which I replied "of course" and he said that he did not think there was one. It got me thinking about the point of art. My brother in law is a bass player and has been in many bands, but it made me think of one in particular where there was one member who was fixated on playing covers note for note like the original. Rummy (my brother in law) asked this person if you are not using the song as a springboard to you own creativity then why even play.

This is how I feel about art too. Take for instance photo realism. A photo realist painting can be amazing in it's technical skill but I would contend that no photo realist painting could ever show the heart and soul of a scene like a expressionist or impressionist painting. Or even an actual photograph because reality is not the point of taking a photo. If you hold too tightly to reality you have a difficult time letting yourself come through and I feel that is potentially the most powerful part.