Alone is not Always Lonely

Each artist seems then like the citizen of an unknown country, a fatherland he himself has forgotten, different from the one from which will come, heading for the Earth, another great artist.

Proust knew that it takes time away to see what you might want to do. Feeling unfamiliar somewhere unfamiliar can feel easier than feeling unfamiliar somewhere very familiar, which is why great ideas often come while traveling. Because you can not explain yourself among these strangers, the ideas have an opportunity to develop enough strength to fly on their own and perch comfortably on the side of your mind to be addressed when ready, or fall from the sky dead like Icarus to their own vanity.

Arp

We may compare artists and the arts to one another but the effort to try to see them independently, objectively, also permits a glimpse at an internal world that does not feel like someone else's. This ability to introduce someone else to what you feel, while allowing them to remain feeling themselves on some level, is what great art offers the world. And sometimes that does indeed feel alien, to the artist, the viewer, the lunatic and the lover.