"I conciously decided that, even if it wasn't an ideal world, it should be so, and so I painted only the ideal aspects of it." Norman Rockwell.

It would be easy to assume that Norman Rockwell's artwork was inspired by his childhood upbringing, but in fact he grew up in a closed, emotionless family, which may have sparked his imagination about what was good and virtuous in other American households. Rockwell intentionally chose to create work that would generate warmth, humor, and thoughtfulness, images that left an afterglow of sorts in the viewer.

After much thought over years, I have come to believe that "fine arts" automatically denotes a realm of higher thinking and asthetic creativity, a "reaching higher," if you will, that can be widely appreciated. If an artist chooses to lead a viewer inward, he must also lead them out again, hopefully to a higher level than where they were. The best stories do the same, taking the hero on a journey of growth--if he doesn't come out of the story a better person, then he contributes nothing better to life or society. The motives of the artist have indirectly led to a contribution in a universally positive way to the culture.

Conversely, I feel that most often, "shock" art, nudity, etc. reaches down to baser levels and takes viewers who will tolerate it with them. They are led into a darkness and left there. The artist's heart and motives come into question in my mind in these cases, since the result is degenerative. They may affect negatively those in society with addictions or tendancies to crime. (It is not likely that many of us do not know of someone who is not affected by pornography addictions leading to personal problems, divorce, job loss and even rape). I do not mean to suggest that artists do not have the "right" to paint what they want to or that there should be laws regulating subject matter. I am addressing a matter of the heart, intentions, and social responsibility.

Art does not deny the existence of baseness of life, but it can lead you to overcome it by looking at what could or should be. Many arists will deny that they can be held responsible for viewers who are influenced negatively by their work; so do movie producers when prisoners explain where they got their ideas for copy-cat crimes. But one fact is indisputable: We can learn from Norman Rockwell 's example. He became a beloved American illustrator because he intentionally chose to create subject matter that left the viewer a better person. He was a lantern in the dark