SUBJECT AND ETHICS

as Rand pointed out in her essay ART AND SENSE OF LIFE, 'two distinct, but interrelated elements of a work of Art are the crucial means of projecting its sense of life: the SUBJECT and the STYLE - WHAT an artist chooses to present and HOW he presents it...the subject of an art work expresses a view of a man's existance, while the style expresses a view of a man's consciousness... it is the subject [qualified by the theme] that projects an art work"s view of man's place in the universe... the theme of an art work is the link uniting the subject and its style...' in choosing a subject, there are unlimited possibilities... a lot, I think, depends on the diversity of the interests that the particular artist has... a lot also depends on one's understanding of ethics - and this is where I think lies a most important underlying element to Art... in one of her more controversial statements, she proclaimed that 'Art is the indespensible medium for the communication of a moral ideal...'... she further stated that while 'moral values are inextricably involved in Art,' it is 'only as a consequence, NOT a causal determinant.'... Art is '...the concretization of a moral ideal,' she argued, 'not a textbook on how to become one'... but which ethics? the one pandered to over the centuries, causing countless deaths and disillusions? the one whose virtues are of the tribal/taking syndrone?