Popularism Is The Enemy Of Art

A thing that is True

Is meant for the few.

 

In Truth,

It is not even meant

For the few.

 

Rather,

The few

Are something that the Art can withstand.

 

Art does not withstand

Curious and prying eyes.

 

For the curious and prying eyes

Have not the integrity to truly see it.

 

The world

Is a place of popularism

And dilution.

 

The world

Is a place of volume

And quantity.

 

It is not a place

Built to support

The delicateness of Art.

 

True Art

Is not a thing for the masses.

 

It is not that it is higher

Or more elevated.

 

It is that

There is no synchronicity,

No harmony,

No possible communion

Between the two.

 

Authors

Seek to become best-sellers.

 

Films

Seek to break box-office records.

 

Businesses

Seek to sell as many of its products

To as many people as possible.

 

There is nothing wrong

With such goals

And such desires.

 

But an art that is pure

Has no such motivation.

 

It is not that such an artist

Or his art

Seeks to be “superior”

To anyone.

 

Its motivation

Arises from a fundamentally different source.

 

Where there are many,

There is dilution.

 

Where there are many,

There is compromise.

 

Pure art

Does not compromise.

 

Because it serves the hand

Of its creation.

Rather than the attention

Of the world.

 

It may be revealed,

In controlled doses.

 

The curtain may be narrowly opened

For some of the works.

 

But the art

Maintains a constant vigilance

Against the harsh light of the sun,

And the fingerprints of popularism.

 

Where there is a motivation

For the creation of pure art,

The joy

Is in the creation itself.

 

The depth of solitude . . .

The alchemy of creation . . .

The witnessing of an unfolding mystery . . .

 

It is not for the world.

It is not for any man alive.

 

A preservation

Of purity.

 

A devotion

To quality.

 

A quiet war

Of independence.

 

A creation

And preservation

Of but one thing Real and True,

In a plastic

And artificial world.

 

Namaste.