The Artist's Art

While I think definitions of art are always problematic partly because the word "art" is thrown around so much in the media but also because there are so many vastly different individual works, people, and crafts that I would truly designate as art.

But when an artist is creating a work of art, he should adhere to a very rigid conception of art in order to give the work a unity of vision. Watching as many movies as I do, I've become partial to certain concepts of art that have affected me more than others. So here's a few such concepts, where I get them from, why I like them, and specific films that I think exemplify them (a little preachy, but so are most people when they try to express their deepest convictions) :

1.) A work of art should give it's audience the freedom take it in their own way. An artist should present the world as he sees it but should avoid overt statements. It is much more interesting to engage critically with what is going and drawing one's own conclusions than to have the film itself proclaim its film's themes and world view. I agree with Andrei Tarkovsky when he says that the filmmaker should meet the audience halfway.
Tarkovsky's Stalker or Mirror

2.) "The purpose of art is not the release of a momentary ejection of adrenaline but rather the gradual, lifelong construction of a state of wonder and serenity."
-Glenn Gould

Although I'm not convinced that wonder and serenity are the end goals of art, I do think art has an important role in individual's lives and society at large. These roles of art are not played out viscerally through sensationalism, but possibly through the role of reenacting people and conflicts in a structure that allows an audience to see themselves and their conflicts more clearly - a luxury not afforded by the chaotic flow of everyday life. In this way art has definitely had a profound impact on my life.
Bergman's Wild Strawberries

3.) I am interested in the non-dramatic moments in life. I'm not at all attracted to making films that are about drama.
-Jim Jarmusch

When films involve lots of drama, they tend to bore me. I don't necessarily believe that this is an artistic truth, but when drama comes first it is often accompanied by cliches and stereotypes.
Any Jarmusch film, Malick's Badlands

4.) Don't reduce characters to simple psychological causes.

Badlands