“When I see something, a table for example, I see wood in the form of a table. It is true that the table is being hard as I am seeing it (I bump into it), but I know that this state is transitory (it will be burnt and decompose into amorphous ash). But the table-form is eternal, since I can imagine it anywhere and at any time (see it in my mind's theoretical eye). Hence the form of the table is real, and the content of the table (the wood) is only apparent. This illustrates what carpenters do: They take the form of a table (the 'idea' of a table) and impose it upon an amorphous piece of wood” (Vilém Flusser, Form and Material, page 3). I translate this as the carpenter becomes the artist, and the wood can be any material that the artist chooses to use. The artist can impose the idea of art and give it meaning by changing the form of the material and making its contents eternal.
