ego and attachment

I had an eight-hour drive today, traveling south to visit a friend in Sedona, AZ.  As the miles rolled by, I found myself musing yet again about the idea of getting rid of words (in music) and images (in painting).  On an impulse, while stopping at the BLM Visitor Center at Big Water for a break from the road, I called my cellist friend/teacher, Bonnie, and asked her how she saw the idea of getting away from the verbal mind in music.  As I might have anticipated, had I thought about it, her response came from the perspective of the performer rather than the listener.  It made me realize that I have not been distinguishing between the two.

Bonnie's response to my question was to propose that one must let go of the ego in order to reach unity with music. I interpret this to mean, at least in part, a letting go of control in order that notes and phrases might flow unimpeded.  One must maintain a kind of passive mindfulness about one's playing, and certainly one must have skills to depend upon, but there is definitely a letting go involved. When I think back on the piano recital of a couple of weeks ago, this is also what I did, in a way, as a listener when I shut off the verbal side of my mind and just was present.  So perhaps it can work from both sides of the musical curtain, as it were.

As for painting, letting go of the ego is an idea I can understand easily from the painter's perspective.  Much has been said by many artists about letting the creative process flow unimpeded and about taking the ego out of the work.  I like the quote from Arkansas artist Warren Criswell:  "Creativity in general may require a certain disarmament of the ego."   A disarmament, a letting go, a standing back is to me a very helpful concept as I work in my studio.

From the viewer's perspective, however, I am not so clear about disinvolvement of the ego. Perhaps by taking out imagery (in abstraction), one asks the viewer to suspend literal interpretation.  But that is not the same thing as suspending the ego, and abstraction in fact may demand more ego involvement of the viewer, in asking for nonliteral interpretation of the work.  Ego may be necessary to partake fully of visual art.  In abstract art, one asks the viewer to let go of expectations of imagery.  Perhaps, if anything more is to be asked, it is that prejudgment and closed-mindedness be suspended and that the viewer enter into the picture with the same spirit of inquisitiveness and adventure that the artist had when creating it.