"The artist recognizes a pattern which for him represents a Value, and he is moved by the urge to give it expression. To this end, he proceeds to eliminate all that is irrelevant, in order to bring into his present moment the particular pattern of qualities that has attracted his interest. His concern is wholly with the particular, even if his form of expression is abstract, and even if the 'particular' is some universal truth or cosmic value.
He has a definite, immediate objective that cannot be reached by hypothesis or generalization: He must express in a work of literature, painting, sculpture, architecture, music or even dance and mime, the infinitely rich content of an aesthetic present moment. When the work has been done, the artist turns to another experience and begins again. Every work of art is thus an end-point beyond which there is nothing. It can never be complete or perfect, for the content of the present moment is rich beyond the possibility of expression, but there must be an end to the attempt. If it is 'successful', there is a sense of fulfillment that attaches itself forever to that particular work and can never be destroyed. For better for worse, with all its imperfections, the work is finished with. Its 'present moment' remains, but that of the artist grows and opens to another start. Nevertheless, the life of the work of art is not ended; it will either rise or fall in the scale of significance in just the same way as any other present moment. The work of art links the past and the present in a present moment of its own. It is a constantly renewed experience that we may describe as Reiterated Concentration."
JG Bennett, from Vol. 4, The Dramatic Universe
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