Quotes by Oscar Wilde

"Art is mind expressing itself under the conditions of matter."click for discussion

This quote explores the metaphysical philosophical question of mind over matter. The quote states that art is an essence of the mind, and therefore is immaterial. It states that to communicate the idea to others, it has to be represented through material means. The artist him/herself is a biochemical mechanical machine which in this quote refers to matter; and the tools and art materials are also matter. It seems amazing that although there seems to be no limit in what way a person can express themselves artistically, there is still one limitation: the fact that it can only be communicated through some sort of matter; at the very least, the human body itself with no other tools.

"Far out of ourselves we can never par, nor can there be in creation what the creator was not. The more objective a creation appears to be, the more subjective it really is." click for discussion

This quote states another limitation of art. This is that we can never escape the fact that we are ourselves; hence, we cannot create something without some of ourselves in it. This refers to the expression, the style, the feelings that are like a signature to each artist. An artist may try to desensitize themselves, or try to be like someone else, and probable be able to succeed to a certain degree, but the little "homonculus" inside the head behind the controls is always alive and is always a part of the artist.
The second sentence in this quote explains a consequence of this. One something is presented in a simplified straight forward way, the interpretations from that are enormous. For example, there are some contemporary art paintings consisting of only two stripes of colour. At first glance it appears very straight forward, but with some reflection the viewer can make an infinite number of interpretations of that painting, ranging from what the painting looks like to what kind of mood the painting conveys.
Perhaps the quote is suggesting that artists can best express themselves in a subjective manner, while a viewer of art can best feel themselves though objective work.

"The aim of art is simply to create a mood." click for discussion

This quote states that art is not an objective event, but a subjective event. Not only that, art is impartial as to what kind of feeling one tries to introduce as an artist and what kind of feeling the spectator of art receives. There are no rules or guidelines to art as to how art should be presented. The only expectation a spectator of art may have, is that it has to install some sort of emotion. It does not matter if the emotion is salient and novel, or if it gradually develops. What matters is that some kind of emotion is felt by the giver and the receiver.

"All bad poetry springs from genuine feeling. To be natural is to be obvious, and the obvious is to be inartistic." click for discussion

If to be natural is to be obvious, and the obvious is to be inartistic. Then it logically follows that to be natural is to be inartistic. This statement seems to suggest that to copy nature is merely an academic exercise, and is therefore not art. Therefore the implication from this would be that for artistic excellence, some sort of statement of the natural environment or feeling has to be made. There has to be a purpose to have artistic expression. Just copying nature or feelings is not enough for good art.

"Form is everything. Find expression for a sorrow, and it will become dear to you. Find expression for joy, and you intensify its ecstasy. Form is the birth of passion and the death of pain." click for discussion

This quote demonstrates an effect of artistic form.
"Face your fear and it will disappear" is something that I have always been told. One of the best ways to reduce fear is to understand what the feared object or event is -rationalize why it is so. The final reaction is one of a sense of control that one gets when they understand something -it "becomes dear to you".
To some a picture is a thousand words; to some music is a thousand words and so on. In general, a form of any artistic dimension can explain alot more than can words. This is exactly what artistic form has done since the beginning of art history.
Similarly, when something that brings euphoria in ones life, and this can be explain and rationalized, the same sense of control results. Thus the positive event is superimposed by the positive feeling one gets from a sense of control. Again, the positive events can be explained best though artistic form.

"Art is a passion, and, in matters, of art, thought is inevitably coloured by emotion, and cannot be narrowed into the rigity of a scientific formula. It is the soul that art speaks, and the soul may be made the prisoner of the mind as well as the body." click for discussion

This quote states that art ideas come from the emotional psyche. The emotions are very strong and do not necessarily follow any formal logic. The quote suggests a major problem for artists and spectators of art: this is that the emotions have to be set free in order for art to have its full effect. Unfortunately, through a lifetime of conditioning in our societies, it is very difficult for us to truly feel all the emotions necessary for an uninhibited artistic agenda. It may also be that we may personally feel an abundance of emotion, but have been conditioned to refrain from showing it publicly.
Nobody would suggest to eliminate the social rules we learn in society, as they are needed to maintain some kind of order and peace. However, perhaps the awareness of this phenomenon would be the beginning in letting us explore ourselves -our soul. You can get out of "prison" if you understand what kind of prison you are in.

"There is some loveliness of environment...ugliness has had its day. Subtlety and distinction have not yet left the school. The duty of imposing form upon chaos does not grow less as the world advances." click for discussion

This quote starts off by saying that there is always a way to create something beautiful. Then it suggests that the way to create beauty is through subtlety and distinction. Another words, beauty is created by creating some kind of categorization.
The third sentence states explains that there is always some kind of categorization being created. As more knowledge is acquired, one would initially think that there would be more order in ideas and in the way that the world functions. In reality, there is no change at all. The reason is that the more you know, the more you realize that you do not know. Consequently, the need to categorize, or impose form, is always there. It is necessary for us to categorize everything so that we can quickly identify both similarities and potential problems in situations. As well, this categorization gives one a sense of understanding, and this understanding is required to make some sense, or beauty, of the world.

"Technique is really personality." click for discussion

One can read alot about an artist, just by observing the technique the artist has used. This is in principle the same as identifying an individual's personality by their handwriting. One can sense an artist's overall disposition, as well as the artist's mood at the time of painting.
Clearly, one of the things that makes art special, is that it is done by one individual, idiosyncratic from others, and hence no two artists can portray the exact same effect in art.

"Each of the professions means a prejudice. The necessity for a career forces everyone to take sides. We live in an age in which people are so industrious that they become absolutely stupid. We have never been in such need of unpractical people." click for discussion

When one chooses a career, one effectively has chosen to specialize in a specific field. This field contributes to, but does not necessarily care of its effect on other fields and disciplines. As a result of this noncommunication and noninterest of other fields, it is not surprising that many things are performed by one professional when it may have been easier and more economical to have the same task performed be another professional. Newton's "law of parsimony", which states that the simplest solution os the best solution, is not being obeyed.
The author states that a solution to this would be to have people who are uninterested in a particular field, and therefore would have an unprejudiced view of the whole situation. What is needed for efficiency are people who know alittlebit about everything, and don't excel at anything.

"Ethics, like natural selection, make existence possible. Aesthetics, like sexual selection, make life lovely and wonderful, fill it with new forms, and give it progress, variety and change." click for discussion

A code of ethics is needed for society to have some order and consequently to keep it from self-destruction. Natural reproduction of the species also is needed for a race to survive. These are things that are needed for existence of any species.
The author goes on to say that this process of existence can be aesthetically beautiful, and as a result many new ideas can be produced.
I don't agree with the author's comparison of aesthetics to sexual selection. It is a man's point of view. By traditional societal definition, women are the providers of loveliness, whereas men form a "macho" image, with all the bulliness and stubbornness that goes along with that idea. This stereotypical image is still imposed on women today, and as a consequences many are repressed so that they cannot "progress" or build "new forms" as the author suggests.

"True decadence is when Life gets the upper hand, and drives Art into the wilderness." click for discussion

This quote states that the biggest corruption that a society can produce, is one of restricting creativity. A totaltarian ideology where censorship is strict and enforced hinders the human mind from exploring, and hence aquiring knew knowledge. Knowledge is awareness, and awareness is needed so that we can observe the state of the human race and our environment. Through art, the artist can project his or her personal feelings or make a statement of their personal observation of their envoronment. The artist, whether educated or not, often provides the initial new interpretations of existence. This art can influence people of authority who can make legal changes to so that people behave in the new "politically correct" way.
A constant re-evaluation and search of ideas is needed for the human race to continue its existence, and the artist is often the catalyst of these changes.