This is one of my David Hockney's. He painted it on an iPad during a TV show and then said the first 200 people applying could get it as a free download. Needless to say I was pretty chuffed to get one and it continues to give me pleasure. Today (as I write) is Epiphany and for many it is a spiritual moment of awakening, of realisation, of revelation even. It isn't any of these things for me. Its simply a time which allows me to remember how fortunate I am. I didn't suddenly wake up and realise I remembered, it wasn't revealed to me, I already knew. That's what I think of art does, it reminds us, it speaks to us, becoming more than just the item on display. Wallace Stevens wrote, '[The artist’s] function is to make his imagination … become the light in the minds of others. His role, in short, is to help people to live their lives.' What I feel is, if an artist, be it painter, sculptor, photographer, poet or what and whomsoever, goes to the trouble of switching on the lights, at least we can work with it. So when Rilke asked,
Who, if I cried out, would hear me among the angels'
hierarchies?
I'm not so concerned by the image of existential suffering he goes on to insinuate (which I care little about - there's too many people really suffering in the world), but by the light he switches on in making me think. Well that's how I see it anyway. Have your own epiphany, ultimately it really has nothing to do with me unless you wish to use it against me.
