THE OTHER PART

A treatise on art and THE OTHER Part

© Erich Romberg, 1998

THE OTHER PART

You are only aware of one urge; oh never get to know the other! Two souls dwell, alas! in my breast, one wants to separate from the other;

(Quote: Goethe, Faust1)

THE OTHER PART is the second soul of the artist. He has experienced the polarity of his being, he has yin and yang, maternal and paternal blood, the ability to feel happiness and suffering, Abel and Cain, as well as the divine and the devilish. He is two beings who want to break out of the tight corset of the body, and he can only keep them under control by learning to accept and love them as his nature, by recognizing polarity as an inseparable unity and not misunderstanding it as inner conflict. This unity manifests itself in art.

The artist must not deny his OTHER SIDE; not suppress the dark side in you, as the Philistines do; banish them to the canvas, fling them on paper or beat them in stone; shock the Philistines by putting THE OTHER PART, their OTHER PART, in front of their noses. Through art, we can learn that darkness and shadow are born only through light. Just as reason and irrationality need each other, just as space and time only make sense through light and matter, so it is only through art that THE OTHER PART is revealed, and the artist can reach those among us who have also experienced THE OTHER PART.

Art is an expression of truth, and THE OTHER PART is part of that truth.