Adam Wade Art as Make-Believe Reading #5

Kendall Walton has a unique and controversial view of art.  He believes that all art is related to "childish games".  The same basic cognitive process of a child using their imagination occurs when one looks at a piece of art.  It is the transportation to a imaginary world that Walton finds similar, and I can hardly disagree with him.  When one listens to a symphony, there world is filled with the symphony; it is all encompassing; it is a new world.  I would argue that it is not so much a use of imagination but rather an openness to allow the art to create the new world.  A child may conjure up a universe, but when one looks at art, one simply falls into a new realm; the creating element belongs to the artist, not the observer.