Art Beyond Gimmicks

“Any entertainment that aspires to art should not work with the audience like an advertisement. Trying to please the audience lowers the level of sophistication constantly…When you try always to please the audience, you have to produce more and more automatic gimmicks, more and more plastic…As artists, we have the responsibility of raising the mentality of the audience. People might have to reach out with a certain amount of strain, but it’s worth it.”

From Chogyam Trungpa, “Endless Richness,” in DHARMA ART