WHAT ART IS #2

 Once, when asked what Trans-Siberia Orchestra was about, Paul O'Neill replied, "It's about creating great art." Then, when asked to define what this   g r e a t   a r t   is, he answered,

"The purpose of art is to create an emotional response in the person that is exposed to it. And there are three categories of art: bad art, good art and great art.

Bad art will elicit no emotional response in that person: a song you hear in an elevator and it does nothing to you, a picture on a wall that gives you the same emotion as if the wall had been blank, a movie that chews up time.

Good art will make you feel an emotion you have felt before: you see a picture of a forest and you remember the last time you went fishing with your dad, you hear a song about love and you remember the last time you were in love.

Great art will make you feel an emotion you have never felt before: seeing Pieta, the world-famous sculpture by Michaelangelo, can cause someone to feel the pain of losing a child even if they've never had one.

And when you're trying for such emotions, the easier one to trigger is anger. Anyone can do it. Go into the street, throw a rock at someone, you will make them angry. The emotions of love, empathy and laughter are much harder to trigger, but since they operate on a deeper level, they bring a much greater reward."

  Amen.