An artist admires other artists as much as everyone else does. I do too. I’ve got a long list of artists I’ve admired, and there’s an even longer list of paintings and sculptures that take my breath away.

That begs the question, “Are Art and Artist the same?”

I feel that an artist “gives birth” to his or her work, except that art is conceived in the artist’s head and is born on the canvas or any other medium that the artist chooses. So a part of the artist’s soul or the Limbic-DNA of the artist is transferred into the work. But once the artist completes the work and it starts breathing on its own, it acquires a life of its own. When anybody looks at a piece of art, they see a bit of themselves reflected in it alongside the expression of the artist.

From the point when the artist separates from the art, both go their own ways – and they continue to evolve differently. So it’s quite possible to fall in love with a piece of art that was created by an artist eons ago, and not admire the artist; or love the artist’s thoughts and works of today, but dislike their previous works.

You don’t have to love every work of an artist to admire him or her intensely.  You can love a piece of art but dislike the artist, or you may not be able to stand a work by an artist to admire immensely – and in both cases, you would be honest in your admiration.

Image: Leonardo da Vinci’s Ginerva de’ Benci (Oil on Panel, done early in his career. It’s my Split between the artist I love and the work I don’t.)