“On Titling Art”
Over the years, I too have collected many rocks, and my love of them has nothing to do with their geological classifications. I have no idea what kind of rocks they are. To me, they are just rocks. In fact, I believe that when you name something, like a bird, or a flower—or a rock—you take something away from its inherent beauty.
Painting by John Diamond, M.D.
For the same reason I don’t like it when people put titles to paintings: that takes the viewer into his brain and away from his heart. It also keeps him focused on the superficial.
Jackson Pollock’s wife once asked him, “What do we call this painting?” His answer: “Number One.” This was one of his many attempts to free the viewer from the limitations of the subject.
So all my paintings are untitled, deliberately so. Because to title them would undermine their basic purpose: to bring the sufferer closer to his Soul.
Excerpt from Art for Healing: Guided Painting Then and Now
