Authenticity matters

Myth is the public dream, and dream is the private myth. - Joseph Campbell
Fine art is not necessarily better, but good art is always better, because it is real.
It has been authenticated. The artist has been proven to be the one who actually produced the work of art.
It is often hard to figure out what is behind the artist's work.
What is it they want to say? What is really going on with the artist's vision? Does the landscape depict the way the place actually looks; does the portrait look like the real person?
We know for sure that the pieces we love and that stand the test of time are those that have a deep ability to match our internal mythical pictures. There is the resonance of "Real." We even sometimes say to each other, "Get real!"
Being personally authenticity is just as hard a goal to achieve as the artistic goal of achieving a masterpiece . But it is worth the effort. The satisfaction of being all we can truly become is matched by nothing else.
Clues to our direction, our destiny are often buried at an unconscious level. Dreams come from the unconscious. In our dreams we are sometimes more real than in waking life. Knowing what your dreams are saying to you, what is being real for you, representing your true self, is the work of becoming authentic. It is an elusive quest, as elusive as the artist's masterpiece, but well worth the effort.
Tags: art authentic self reality. My "topical post" today at South by Southwest is about the current pessimism regarding the Hamas victory in Palestine.