Seeing Really Is Believing
August 29, 2008
Post by Kent Wing
I JUST FINISHED READING The Prestige, by Christopher Priest in which one of the main characters, Alfred Borden, describes his particular method of legerdemain, or slight of hand. The special feature of the magician and his audience is the “pact” they enter into with each other. The audience silently agrees to believe as long as the magician performs his trick with the skill that is required to make it believable. Borden terms the agreement, “the pact of acquiescent sorcery”.
As an artist, it’s interesting for me to note the obvious thread in The Prestige that parallels the way magic and art operate on the viewer’s ability to accept what is real. The discussion between what is being proposed inescapably includes some kind of response – the two are not mutually exclusive. I believe this is not only true in cases of art and magic, but in our day-to-day experiences as well.
Over the years I’ve been approached by curious neighbors, friends and others who are aware of what I do. They voluntarily declare they don’t have enough education about art to make a comment or even allow themselves a response. “I don’t know much about art…” they begin. Of course it’s the oldest cliché in the book. They say so apologetically as if something were lacking in them. They assume that they have to be formally “trained” to experience something that seems inaccessible and therefore needs explaining. In many cases however, the explanation, (the legacy of modern art) has a way of replacing the work itself. But really, can you imagine a magician “explaining” a trick to an audience in order for them to feel perfectly delighted by it?
“Are you watching closely?” is the magician’s invitation. What would happen if we allowed ourselves a greater level of trust in just looking – and then looking again? What if the only training we lack is the devotion of learning to see – of paying attention? What is it that connects us to the unexpected, the inexplicable and extraordinary? By what means do we access these intangibles? Personally, I like thinking that seeing really is believing.
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excellent observations! as I have told you, my favorite when discussing art with the truly \\\’sophisticated\\\’ is to comment that \\"I know everything about art, I just don\\\’t know what I like!\\"