I got spammed by an artist this week and I’m not sure how I feel about it. Upon reflection, I was actually quite surprised with my knee-jerk reaction of immediately shutting the page down. After all, I know all too well how difficult just simply getting your work seen by people can actually be. Maybe I should have given her more benefit of the doubt and/or consideration...
But, in addition to the belligerently invasive marketing technique, I think the root of my reaction was that she was an abstract artist… And I, like many, treat many who pursue this sort of expression with a fair measure of contempt. Visions of a green line representing a prairie horizon or a 3 million dollar blank canvas representing god-knows-what immediately come to mind and the teeth just start to clench.
I’ve long tried to be a defender of abstract art. At it’s best, it can be a genuine and visceral peek at the world from someone else’s perspective. Much like how a well written article can describe a situation, offer insight, and evoke emotion - an artists movement, choice of color and presentation can do much the same. It is just unfortunately rare for this to be the case.
The way I see it, though, there are two major problems: 1) The artist often has nothing of any real value to ‘say.’ And 2) People are willing act like he (or she) does. At some point all that has been created is an illusion of knowledge and then people, not wanting to appear ignorant, pretend to ‘know’ as well. So the cycle begins and it becomes a culture of people pretending to ‘know’ something. An imaginary, often exorbitant, value is assigned and an opportunity to be condescending to people who just aren’t willing to buy into the BS presents itself.
The unfortunate casualties of the anti-abstract sentiment, however, are the people who really do have a perspective worthy of consideration. They are often lost in a vast sea of copycat paint splatterers, palette knife smushers, and just plain douchey self anointed ‘artsy’ people. So much so, that people will unfortunately and likely walk right by a true visionary in order to get a look at the latest Godard print.
There really are abstract artists out there that can actually paint ‘better than your kid.’ You just gotta look past the facade (and now/apparently the pop-up ads too) to find them. Failing that, you can always wait and see what sort of wacky predicament the olive will find himself in next time he runs across a giant martini glass.
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I’m still struggling with motivation on the work front. I’ve got some cool projects in the works, though, that I look forward to getting past the design stage. A very high-profile military commission in particular has got me extremely excited - it’s been a hard one to nail down though. As much as I have grown to love my sketchbook and design work over the years - it’s been a little while and I’m itching to get some actual paint under my nails again. I’m working on an E-Tac coffin lid display (possibly for SEMA) in between doing design work and that has been quite enjoyable. More custom/bike customer work on the horizon should get my ass in gear pretty quick here as well. All in all, no major complaints.
Thanks for reading! Sincerely,
Rod
But, in addition to the belligerently invasive marketing technique, I think the root of my reaction was that she was an abstract artist… And I, like many, treat many who pursue this sort of expression with a fair measure of contempt. Visions of a green line representing a prairie horizon or a 3 million dollar blank canvas representing god-knows-what immediately come to mind and the teeth just start to clench.
I’ve long tried to be a defender of abstract art. At it’s best, it can be a genuine and visceral peek at the world from someone else’s perspective. Much like how a well written article can describe a situation, offer insight, and evoke emotion - an artists movement, choice of color and presentation can do much the same. It is just unfortunately rare for this to be the case.
The way I see it, though, there are two major problems: 1) The artist often has nothing of any real value to ‘say.’ And 2) People are willing act like he (or she) does. At some point all that has been created is an illusion of knowledge and then people, not wanting to appear ignorant, pretend to ‘know’ as well. So the cycle begins and it becomes a culture of people pretending to ‘know’ something. An imaginary, often exorbitant, value is assigned and an opportunity to be condescending to people who just aren’t willing to buy into the BS presents itself.
The unfortunate casualties of the anti-abstract sentiment, however, are the people who really do have a perspective worthy of consideration. They are often lost in a vast sea of copycat paint splatterers, palette knife smushers, and just plain douchey self anointed ‘artsy’ people. So much so, that people will unfortunately and likely walk right by a true visionary in order to get a look at the latest Godard print.
There really are abstract artists out there that can actually paint ‘better than your kid.’ You just gotta look past the facade (and now/apparently the pop-up ads too) to find them. Failing that, you can always wait and see what sort of wacky predicament the olive will find himself in next time he runs across a giant martini glass.
--
I’m still struggling with motivation on the work front. I’ve got some cool projects in the works, though, that I look forward to getting past the design stage. A very high-profile military commission in particular has got me extremely excited - it’s been a hard one to nail down though. As much as I have grown to love my sketchbook and design work over the years - it’s been a little while and I’m itching to get some actual paint under my nails again. I’m working on an E-Tac coffin lid display (possibly for SEMA) in between doing design work and that has been quite enjoyable. More custom/bike customer work on the horizon should get my ass in gear pretty quick here as well. All in all, no major complaints.
Thanks for reading! Sincerely,
Rod
Self anointed douchery...LOL!!!! I annoint thee SIR!!!! ;) Nice blog bud and my sentiments exactly...
ReplyDeletegood points Rod, I enjoyed it and i think i fell the same way
ReplyDelete