Hi
An lens in analysis is always a function of the observer, and as with any lens it helps you see the details at the expense of the whole. Art is a complex human endeavor and as such responds to multiple motivations. Reducing it to one single thread in order to explain it, (enlightening as it might be) will always be at best incomplete.
This reminded me of the parable of the elephant and blind men.
“A group of blind men heard that a strange animal, called an elephant, had been brought to the town, but none of them were aware of its shape and form. Out of curiosity, they said: "We must inspect and know it by touch, of which we are capable". So, they sought it out, and when they found it they groped about it. The first person, whose hand landed on the trunk, said, "This being is like a thick snake". For another one whose hand reached its ear, it seemed like a kind of fan. As for another person, whose hand was upon its leg, said, the elephant is a pillar like a tree-trunk. The blind man who placed his hand upon its side said the elephant "is a wall". Another who felt its tail described it as a rope. The last felt its tusk, stating the elephant is that which is hard, smooth and like a spear.”
