Traditional Anchor

Lets not define ourselves purely by tradition…..

Yes… “Beauty is essentially a matter of values; if values are confused,if there are no standards, if valueless things are admitted among the valued, judgments of beauty lose their basis.”
Yanagi

But if we anchor our values solely in tradition, then tradition will be a box that can easily trap our imagination.

Seriously…

Using the values of tradition as a platform to move from, rather than as an endpoint, allows for the viewer a path into the work, a set of values that they can be familiar and comfortable with. And yes, the confines of tradition can give the artist a safe baseline to build from.
A structure to fill.
A place to explore beauty.

But hey…
None the less,
Isn’t this still just hiding behind tradition?