About Useless Lines

You are at Useless Lines, based in Canberra, Australia, and containing thoughts on that most useless phenomenon, art.

The opinions contained within Useless Lines are those of the author alone and are not intended to represent the opinions of any other individual or organisation.

All written material is the work of the author unless otherwise specified.

The title of this blog is inspired by the preface to Oscar Wilde’s ‘Picture of Dorian Gray’…

All art is at once surface and symbol.

Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril.

Those who read the symbol do so at their peril.

It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors.

Diversity of opinion about a work of art shows that the work is new, complex, and vital.

When critics disagree, the artist is in accord with himself.

We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it. The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely.

All art is quite useless.