There might be an explanation, though he was not sure he should insist upon one.
* * * * * * * * * *
This is what everybody feels after they finish Gravity's Rainbow.
It also brings to mind the search for meaning and one of my favorite bits from Tom King's The Sheriff of Babylon.
A lot of parts of this story are my favorites but this entire issue (#5) is just superb.
Generally I believe there's definitely a meaning in a piece of art created by an artist (I make this distinction of art by an artist because I wouldn't automatically assume the same thing about our natural universe. When it comes to natural things, I side with Pugnax: There might be an explanation, though I'm too much a realist to insist upon one). It might not be something the viewer has any possibility of ferreting out as it could be just a reference to some childhood memory and the adult artist's feelings on it. But, in general, I'll look at a piece of art and think, "It should mean something." I rarely ever conclude something is "art for art's sake." I'd rather leave something I don't understand as being just that: beyond my ken. I'd definitely rather be puzzled by a work of art than be given the artist's manifesto explaining why they made the art. I don't mind mystery remaining in my world.
Anyway, I love that three panel strip from The Sheriff of Babylon. It should be a t-shirt or a bumper sticker or any number of types of pop culture ephemera.
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