Art and Fear

[waxwing]

The following passage is taken from Art and Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking (written by David Bayles and Ted Orland).



"...This impasse may be what led Ezra Pound to remark that the one thing he learned from viewing a good piece of art was that the other artist had done his job well, and thus he [Pound] was freed to explore another direction. The art critic faces a more vexing dilemma: in a nutshell, he cannot explain the finished art piece from looking at the artist, and he cannot explain the artist by viewing the finished art piece. And so art is treated like some foreign abject, analyzed from afar for its relationship to politics and culture and history and (incestuously) to other art movements. Or more drudgerously catalogued into successive styles, periods, and "Masterworks." Textbooks compound the problem by reducing the history of art to the history of art that can be reproduced. VerMeer miniatures and Bierstadt murals are allotted idential quarter-page niches, and art that doesn't lend itself to halftoning disappears entirely.

We're not trying to set up straw me here, and certainly there's no harm in standing back occasionally to gain an overview of history (and fantasize about your place in it). The point is simply that none of this will help you to get the paint to fall to the canzas the way you need it to. None of this will tell you what it's like to set the hammer to the marble for the first time. None of this will convey the terror of walking onto the stage to face a thousand people. For the working artist, the very best writings on art are not analytical or chronological; they are autobiographical. The artist, after all, was there. Discuss.

[kuranes]

I like to improvise images that I see after some preliminary sketching. As in the "pareidolia" thread. I'll see something I hadn't intended that came about as a result of random blotting etc. and then proceed to accentuate it. Just like a character sketch or story may end up going in a different direction than I had originally planned because I let the characters develop as "living" beings. This can be "scary", but I wouldn't have it any other way - when this spirit is operating. Some pieces DO end up proceeding on more of a planned path.

It is funny what critics will write - I think John Lennon used to laugh about the meanings that people assigned to some of his humorous pieces.

[TPol]

"...in a nutshell, he cannot explain the finished art piece from looking at the artist, and he cannot explain the artist by viewing the finished art piece. And so art is treated like some foreign abject, analyzed from afar for its relationship to politics and culture and history and (incestuously) to other art movements. Or more drudgerously catalogued into successive styles, periods, and 'Masterworks.'"

Reminds me of an article I was reading the other day. It said that artists need to be involved with their work after they've created it in order to sell it the way they dream of their stuff selling. If the potential patron knows the history behind the work as well as the artist's history, they are more likely to buy the artist's work. You can paint a gorgeous painting of the Oregon coastline, put a price tag on it, and say nothing about the painting other than the price and your name. Or, you can say something about why you chose this location at this time of day at this point in your life, what materials you used and how to take care of the painting, and briefly address why you enjoy creating art. Identical paintings, same price, different information. The patron will more likely purchase the painting with more information. If the patron is somehow involved in the artist's story or the painting's history simply by knowing some of it, they can cease treating it like that "foreign object." It becomes part of them that they want to take home and make it a part of their home.

[kuranes]

Good point Tpol. Artists take note. Many "detach" themselves from the selling process once they've reached a point where a gallery is involved. But the galleries know what time it is. They probably wish they could have more contact besides opening night ( meet the artist and have your wine and cheese/appetizers ) and possibly a closing night. If the artist was willing, and the cost of all of that partying wasn't so high.