nothing  Nothing       up  Concept Art    root  Radical Art          

The Romantic Agony

 


One may entertain the idea that artworks are constituted by the subjective intention of the artist who conceives them. A consequence of this idea is that the artworks are better left unrealized –– it is unlikely that any realization could be faithful to the intention, let alone communicate it to a spectator. This point of view is one of the motivations for the more hermetic varieties of concept art, and for the art of nothing.


It is romantic to consider concrete expression as a decadence, a contamination.

Mario Praz: The Romantic Agony, p. 15.

Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard are sweeter...

Keats [Quoted by Mario Praz: The Romantic Agony, p. 15.]



 

Remko Scha – May 14, 2002