Art as Gift!

Somewhere along the line I read David Foster Wallace talking about "Commercials vs Art," and how a commercial could be artful, but can't be art, because it's purpose is to sell you something, and that Art is a "gift." Not just a gift possessed by the artist, but a gift that the artist gives to you. It has no ulterior motive, except to be. In one sense an Art Object is sort of "useless." Now of course, there is an "Art Market," but the marketing of art has really nothing to do with Art. The impulse of Art is to create something - painting, song, story, etc. that didn't exist before, that takes on a life in the viewer's or listener's or reader's mind. And the moment or action of Art happens in this kind of strange and esoteric communication between the Artist, the Art, and the person who receives the Art. And maybe what's communicated is a sense of beauty, or some kind of feeling, or a spark of an idea or whatever. It's a little thing, a thing that can't really be quantified, or marketed, or captured. It happens, or it doesn't happen. You can't buy it, or own it; that sense, it's kind of a gift, a gift that is just presented to you, whether you recognize it or pick it up, that's up to you. It has nothing to do with selling or buying.