In Relation With Art (05.04.2003)
As I read the works of philosophers, I am constantly making a juxtaposition upon the philosophical framework before me with my life’s work. My life is art. And Martin Buber writes in the I and Thou as I see myself reflecting upon my art. In a few brief passages, Buber strikes the issue exactly where it needs to be done. So the question which I have preoccupied myself is, how does one bring about relation in art? What must one do in order to have this I-Thou relation with art? And my conclusion has come to be that two things are necessary: One must do art, and one must have will and grace in this act. Only then will relation be possible.
In order to know how relation can be brought about, I must first make clear what I mean by relation. Falling in line with Buber, relation is in the realm of the I-Thou. “All real living is meeting,” says Buber, and the real living is in the realm of the I-Thou (26). So too, relation itself is a meeting event where will and grace come together in mutuality. The presence of I and of Thou is now, and in the meeting between I and Thou a dialogue arises which is the affirmation of existence. “The real, filled present, exists only in so far as actual presentness, meeting, and relation exist. The present arises only in virtue of the fact that the Thou becomes present,” (27). In addition, “Relation is mutual. My Thou affects me, as I affect it,” (29).
This is the relation which I wish to exist between me and art. Whether it is my art or not, or whether it is only that which I perceive as art, allowing for any number of possibilities, I wish to exist with it in a relational manner. And as mentioned initially I have come to understand that the bringing about of relational existence with art is possible only by doing art. As Buber indicates, an artist must create:
This is the eternal source of art: a man is faced by a form which desires to be made through him into a work. This form is no offspring of his soul, but is an appearance which steps up to it and demands of it the effective power. The man is concerned with an act of his being. If he carries it through, if he speaks the primary word out of his being to the form which appears, then the effective power streams out, and the work arises. (24)
This is indicative of why an artist must create, because it shows the demand made by the form. In desiring a relational existence with art, I must answer its call and demand when it happens. If I do not answer this call, there will be no streaming forth, and no relation.
“It can, however, also come about, if I have both will and grace, that in considering the [art] I become bound up in relation to it,” (23). I this binding up, all of what the art is and what I am, becomes united. It is not a moment in which I transcend myself or the art and become a singularity. Yet I do not remain separated from the art either. It is this moment that is the meeting event. In this moment of will and grace, I am willing and open to receive and that which is before me presents itself in a granting of this meeting event. Still, “let no attempt be made to sap the strength from the meaning of the relation: relation is mutual,” (23). This is the moment where I encounter the reality of what art is; I encounter the art itself. In addition,
The Thou meets me through grace—it is not found by seeking. But my speaking of the primary word to it is an act of my being, is indeed the act of my being.
The Thou meets me. But I step into direct relation with it. Hence the relation means being chosen and choosing, suffering and action in one; just as any action of the whole being, which means the suspension of all partial action and consequently of all sensations of actions grounded only in their particular limitation, is bound to remember suffering. (26)
If I, thus, have both will and grace, then this meeting is to be. And so I come to the understanding of what I must do to live in relation with art. I find that to live in relation is to live in reality. And to live in this reality means to be completely present, and living in the present. When I can do this, the art itself becomes present, or rather, presents itself to me. But all this cannot come into being unless the form which faces me and demands of me its making is equally acknowledged and its call answered. I must be open to this demand of the form, and if I can give myself with my whole being to the form, then it will “stream out, and the work arises,” (24).
Realizing that it is the necessity of creating art which brings about a complete presence, I can be in the present. So too, being in the present, I am living in reality. And in living in reality I am finally able to meet. As living in reality is meeting, I am finally able to meet the art in its full self. Of course, this meeting is, once again, contingent on my willingness and the grace of that which is before me. Though as I am willing, and completely present, and in the moment, I am completely open to receive the gift of the art. By the grace of that which is before me, I am ultimately meeting, with both will and grace, with the art itself. So it is that in the act of creation, or in the act of beholding the art, I may meet with it in a unifying event. Shall this be my fortune, the I am to live in relation with art.
Works Cited
Buber, Martin. I and Thou. Trans. Ronald Gregor Smith. New York: Scribner, 1986.
