"the arts are dumb"

"Bridge” by Robert Ryman (1980), sold for $20.6 million dollars at auction in 2015.

       While reading the excerpt from Northrop Frye's The Anatomy of Criticism, a few lines in particular stood out to me."There is another reason why criticism has to exist. Criticism can talk, and all the arts are dumb" (Frye 4).  Additionally, "The artist...is not heard but overheard. The axiom of criticism must be, not that the poet does not know what he is talking about, but that he cannot talk about what he knows" (Frye 5).  

       Do you agree with these sentiments? Is the artist dumb, with his or her message heard only through criticism? And even if the arts cannot "speak" does that mean we need criticism?