Which came first . . . the Art or the Idea?

If you ask me, it's as tricky a question as the oldie involving the chicken and its egg, because although the idea starts the ball rolling, it's the expression of the idea through a specific medium that truly fleshes it out, explores it, confirms its direction or chooses another altogether, and then AT LAST creates a tangible and lasting representation or expression.  And without that, the IDEA is just a tiny impulse in the brain cells of a single individual.


IDEAS WITHOUT WORKS ARE DEAD.

Okay, that's not exactly the way that verse goes, but it makes perfect sense.

The ideas come afterwards, 

when the picture is finished.

-- Pierre-Auguste Renoir

An idea is not art.

-- Robert Levers

Ideas are useless unless used.  

The proof of their value is in their implementation.

-- Theodore Levitt

To give a body and a perfect form 
to one's thought, 

this -- and only this -- is to be an artist.

-- Jacques-Louis David

The creative process does not 
end with an idea -- 

it only starts with an idea.

-- John Arnold

Come on!  
I will race you to the corner . . .




Susan M. Hinckley
Small Works in Wool