Artists

Every artist knows in his heart that he is saying something to the public. Not only does he want to say it well, but he wants it to be something which has not been said before.

What visual artists, like painters, want to say is easy to make out but difficult to explain, because painters translate their experiences into shapes and colors, not words. They seem to feel that a certain selection of shapes and colors, out of the countless billions of possible, is exceptionally interesting for them and worth showing to us.

Most artists take their shapes and colors from the world of nature and from human bodies in motion and response; their choices indicate that these aspects of the world are worth looking at, that they contain beautiful sights. Contemporary artists might say that they merely choose subjects that provide an interesting pattern, that there is nothing more in it. Yet even they do not choose entirely without reference to the character of their subjects.

Useful words and Expressions:

1. visual artist 视觉艺术家
2. selection 挑选，选择
3. exceptional 例外的，异常的
4. motion 运动，动作
5. indicate显示，象征
6. contemporary 当代的，同时代的
7. without reference to 不论，与……无关