Untitled, ver. 2 I was in a chat-room playing cards the other night and someone called "lady.grae" was trying to tell me about Schrödinger's Cat and the interpretation of Quantum Mechanics. She totally missed the point that it's really about the "nature of the observed is changed simply because it's being observed." She got all tangential about some radioactive crap. Sigh. Then she bragged her IQ was 128. Naturally I asked her when she tested and she said last year. So, I asked, "was it a vanity test?" and she said, yes. So .. enough about her. We all know Uncle DK just ain't that smart. However, there is one tangent that does tantalize me and that is: is the intent of art-making part of the equation in making a work of art? Some of my Lofty Idealist Faculty got off on exactly this tangent today at a lunch. I am sad to say that Uncle DK only had comments to make about "craft" with not much to add to intent itself. Yet, the question is valid -- in it's simplest terms: Should an artist even name the work? Does a dance or theater work need program notes? Will a title of a poem give too much direction? While the intention of a writer/dancer/director/painter/whatever might be one thing; the observer might get something else entirely and; shouldn't this be a good thing? One person mentioned that Hemmingway said that he didn't even know what his novels were about until sometimes ten years later - that while his novel may have been about 'this', he was actually grappling with something in his personal life. Have you ever pondered why an artist might name the work, "untitled, ver. 12"? I think we might struggle with this issue a lot. It seems to me that in generating the abstract that we allow interpretation of our work on the personal level of the viewer. Unless the work is entirely narrative, the observer doesn't have to be told what to expect. In fact, ideally there may be some level of shock to make that viewer even more receptive. So, our intention - that which drives the current work - may be on a personal or even global/political level; the reception may be entirely different. I'll allow that that may be the satisfaction in creating work, almost as if we are asking a question rather than providing an answer. This may be the crux of what you and I do: we offer up a challenge of choices with little hint at a solution. I think that we are mostly interested in the struggle that lies underneath a topic rather than the topical elements in any piece.