TRIALS OF THE ARTISTS AS AUTEUR
Th is note on ‘Trial and error’ would try to bring in some of
the aspects which are associated with these words. Th e word
error can be the starting point. When one talks about error one
considers the notion of what is right/correct. Th is correctness
is relative/ subjective and reveals the artist’s anticipations
about the future moment. Anticipations point to probabilities
associated with trials and anticipation also talks about an
outcome which the artist expects to be realised. Th ough the
context is not exactly the same but the problems addressed by
the artists here reminds of Karl Popper and Gombrich.’Every
observation,as Karl Popper has stressed ,is a result of a question
we ask nature,and every question implies tentative hypothesis.
We look for something because our hypothesis makes us
expect certain results.Let us see if they follow.If not,we must revise our hypothesis and try again to test it against observation as rigorously as
we can;we do that by trying to disprove it,and the hypothesis that survives that
winnowing process is the one we feel entitled to hold,pro tempore.’ Gombrich
refl ects on this and relates it to visual arts.He says—‘You must have a starting
point,a standard of comparison ,in order to begin that process of matching and
remaking which becomes embodied in the fi nished image.’