Imitatio– At the Principle Gallery
There is no surer way of evading the world than by Art; and no surer way of uniting with it than by Art.
–Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Maxims and Reflections
That Goethe guy sure knew some stuff, didn’t he?
I know that the aphorism above is a truth for myself.
Art, in all its many forms, takes me away from the world while also connecting me with it.
Art reveals my singularity in this world as well as my commonness.
Art centers me, keeps me from going too low or too high.
Art shows me what I am, what I am not, and what I might be.
Art gives me certainty when I need it and doubt when I need that.
Art supplies me with answers and questions. Beginnings and endings.
Art is a mighty thing, indeed.
Redtree Times 
The phrase ‘the consolations of art’ came to mind while reading. It took a few minutes, but I found the passage from Durrell’s Alexandria Quartet that I was trying to remember:
“For us artists there waits the joyous compromise through art with all that wounded or defeated us in daily life; in this way, not to evade destiny, as the ordinary people try to do, but to fulfil it in its true potential – the imagination.”
That Durrell guy knew some stuff, too. Decades ago, at a time when I needed it, the Alexandria Quartet served the very purpose for me that I wrote about today.