Clarity

The quality of clarity, like all of these traits I've undertaken to describe, is very subjective. It is my attempt to define a characteristic that I have noticed in quite a few great examples of New Guinea art. It is important to remember that pre-contact New Guinea cultures were without a written language, thus art served as a very real form of communication. And the quality of clarity I am trying to define is the ability of a piece of art, through the power of its form, to communicate effectively. In my experience many superior pieces of New Guinea art are able to communicate form through the only the barest essential sculptural elements. The following pieces are, in my mind, masterpieces of simplicity and clarity. The mark of a true artist is the ability to do much with less.