woody allen on selfish artists and why your art won't save you
Renata is lucky, because she has her talent and she has what Joey doesn't have, that is, a means of expressing all these painful things that trouble us in life. But she's selfish. Becuase to me, artists frequently are selfish. They need time alone, they need discipline and they need sometimes to behave with people in ways that are important for them but are not really very nice for other people.
And Renata has come to the realization early on that her art is not going to save her, and it's bothering her. I sometimes feel that art is the intellectual's religion. Some artists think that art will save them, that they will be immortalized through their art, they will live on through their art.
But the truth of the matter is, art doesn't save you.
Art to me has always been entertainment for intellectuals. Mozart or Rembrandt or Shakespeare are entertainers on a very, very high level. It's a level that brings a great sense of excitement, stimulation and fulfillment to people who are sensitive and cultivated.
It doesn't profit Shakespeare on iota that his plays have lived on after him. He would have been better off if he was alive and his plays were forgotten.
And Renata has come to the realization early on that her art is not going to save her, and it's bothering her. I sometimes feel that art is the intellectual's religion. Some artists think that art will save them, that they will be immortalized through their art, they will live on through their art.
But the truth of the matter is, art doesn't save you.
Art to me has always been entertainment for intellectuals. Mozart or Rembrandt or Shakespeare are entertainers on a very, very high level. It's a level that brings a great sense of excitement, stimulation and fulfillment to people who are sensitive and cultivated.
It doesn't profit Shakespeare on iota that his plays have lived on after him. He would have been better off if he was alive and his plays were forgotten.