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In the Ancient World, that time before Judeo-Christian morality and the steam engine, Art was not usually segregated from the days and nights of journeying through life. The vast sum of it was identified with the craft of the 'artisan' who created works out of fear, by threat, commission and the possibility of sale, often driven by the ignorance of religion. The artist as an impressionistic window into the where and why of life was uncommon and often ignored. Later, Art evolved into a primary activity of decoration, and then, for a brief time, became that impressionistic window, created for its own purpose. Eventually it morphed into the massive merchandising megalomania of today where everything is 'art' and everyone is an 'artist' and the impressionistic window of past, present and future is a disposable slide-show. In this Special Issue, the contributing writers examine art, albeit briefly, by wandering through a selected chronology or displaying a static instance of a 'view with a view'. The prevailing image can be summed up in the words of another Roman sage: tempus edax rerum - time, the devourer of all things.
Arthur Meiselman
and The Editors of Scene4
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