The confrontation with a work of art is an immediate and ultimately ineffable experience. Within the contemplative silence of this experience, what the artist has done in the past - what schools were or were not attended, where previous work was or was not exhibited, whose collections the artist is or is not a part of, ... - is unimportant. This is as true for the artist as it is for any other viewer of a piece.

If the evolving meaning, beauty, and mystery of a work of art is to be experienced and the viewer is to be surprised, all concerns of ego and economics must be put aside. Easy to say.