Ontologically, man is the measure of all things.
I wish to dispel the notion that a work of art originates in the mind of the artist. The occasion for this opinion was a recent re-reading of St. Anselm's Ontological Argument. My memory of the famous debate was vague and I wanted to review the facts.
Indeed, those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it. There are precedents for Anselm's Ontological Argument, but one which hasn't been discussed (as far as I know), is the myth of Athena's birth from the cracked skull of Zeus.
This highly improbable occurrence is taken as god-given grounds for the emergence of expressed thought. Anselm offers, as metaphor, the painter who conceives the painting in his head before making it manifest on canvas.
Thus, the Ontological Argument. To state the metaphysical dilemma once again, is reality first an idea, or is the idea impressed upon the mind from without? We know where Anselm stands. I argue this conundrum (as old as the Vedas) is, as far as artists are concerned a tired, worn-out cliche.
As a gesture towards dispelling the controversy, I offer a compromise. It is both. Phenomenology, reality is a relay, back-and-forth, self-checking, analogous to a computer algorithm. Likewise, a painter puts paint on a canvas, and then steps back to contemplate what he has done. He may be satisfied, or make corrections, and so on to completion.
To philosophers I offer the metaphor of the blind man finding his way in darkness. Every step is carefully considered. A false step can be fatal. The destination is not reached by leap of faith.
Incidentally, can the blind appreciate art? Yes, but the visual features thereof must be spoken, or otherwise communicated to the blind, for comprehension. I would not assume diminished aesthetic sense in the visually handicapped.
This is my understanding of creative self-expression. A creation does not leap fully-formed from the mind as if by Parthenogenesis.* It is a narrative transcribed, as if by a stenographer taking dictation, word-by-word, faithful to the text.
At this point I should pay tribute to Alberti for the concept of historia in art, of meaning in art. A painter's intention, his meaning, must be inferred from his expression. We do not assert the ability to read minds. The same might be said of anything produced by man.
* Parthenogenesis is from the Greek words parthenos (meaning virgin) and genesis (meaning creation.)
One-of-a-kind works of art can be viewed at: https://www.saatchiart.com/account/artworks/1840403