The Parable of the Art Critic

Josh lives.  Josh walks.  Josh breathes.  Josh speaks. 

One day while teaching, Josh was asked, ”Master, watching the witness confuse himself before the congressional committee, I have to ask, does the witness not know what the definition of ‘is’ is?”

Josh spoke thus:

An art critic was angered by an exhibit at a gallery opening.

“You will not let me see the object,” the critic objected to the artist.

“It’s like Heisenberg,” the artist told the critic, “If you see the object, you will become the object, and the object will no longer be the object.  And the object is to avoid being the object.”

“That’s nonsense,” the critic said.

“That’s art,” the artist said.

“Is it performance art?” the critic asked.

“It is art,” the artist said.

“Is it conceptual art?” the critic asked.

“It is art,” the artist said.

“Is it some sort of meta art?” the critic asked.

“It is art,” the artist said.
“Is it an object of art if I can’t see the object of the art?” the critic asked.

“You are asking philosophy, this is art,” the artist said.

“But I can’t see the object!” the critic shouted.

“You can see the image of the object,” the artist said.

  The critic admitted that he could see the image of the object.  There was a silver picture frame sitting on a bar stool containing a photograph of the object.  The photograph was of a silver picture frame sitting on a bar stool containing a picture of a silver picture frame on a bar stool.

“And you can see an image of the image of the object,” the artist said.

The critic admitted the he could see an image of the image of the object.  There was a mirror behind the bar stool that contained the image of the silver picture frame sitting on the bar stool. The image in the mirror, however, was not of the picture frame on the bar stool directly in front of the mirror.  Such an image would have shown the back of the picture frame, and the image in the mirror was clearly of the front of the picture frame.

The critic turned to see whether there was a mirror behind him that could reflect the image of the image of the object in the mirror.  There was none.  The critic already knew that the mirror reflected a picture frame and a picture and a bar stool hidden behind a mirrored wall.  He could see the mirrored wall.

His anger was that he was not allowed to look behind the wall to confirm the presence of the bar stool, the picture frame and the picture.

Accustomed to having his way, the critic barged past the artist and behind the wall.

A bright light flashed, and the blinded critic was led back to the front of the exhibit.  When his vision cleared, the critic saw the picture frame, the critic saw the picture, the critic saw the stool, and the critic saw the critic: the critic in the picture, the critic in the mirror, the critic looking at the exhibit.

“I don’t get it,” said a nearby critic, “How does it work?”

The artist replied, “That’s the object.”