the end

Sorry to disappoint my many followers, but i am not going to post on this blog anymore. Thanks for readin!

be an artist

Crystal said that you don't have to have talent to be an artist, you just have to say you're an artist. She said that anybody can be an artist because talent or skill isn't important, believing yourself to be an artist is all that matters.

I don't agree, but it works for her

Sandwich artist

I took a class recently in which we were assigned the task of making a 3-dimensional representation of a memory, or something that would invoke the memory. Most took this to mean a sculpture. It was a sculpture class.

One of my classmates made sandwiches. Bread and fillings, not sculpture. Then she distributed them to the class. This was her 3-dimensional representation of memory. I accept that a sandwich can invoke memory but I have difficulty seeing it as art.

Perhaps I would have been more accepting of sandwiches as art if I had not witnessed their construction. Saw how she licked her fingers between layering the ingredients. Watched her hair brush the tops of the sandwiches in progress. Noticed how she wiped her hands on her pants but never washed them before touching food. The sandwiches became distasteful as they were constructed.

Perhaps the art was in the discussion of other sandwiches that the class had experienced, brought on by these sandwiches. Art can be discussion.

Although art can be discussion and a sandwich can invoke a memory I still have difficulty finding her project to be fulfillment of the assignment. I also don't find it to be particularly artistic or creative.

But it must be art because it made her happy.

Things I don't get

I don't get excrement as art.

I have been told that the artist uses ugly materials to show that there is beauty in everything, and I have been told that I need to look beyond substance to see the form and composition. There are also symbolism issues that have been explored in more ways than I can think of.

Artists need to be able to express themselves in ways that reveal their vision and emotion to the rest of the world. Artists should not have to limit themselves to the socially acceptable or mainstream ideal. Art is meant to push the boundaries and make people ask questions.

All of this does not disguise the fact that its sewage. Waste. Shit.

I don't get it.

But it makes somebody happy

Not Mitch

When I was taking art classes the first time, there was a guy in my painting classes. I am calling him "Mitch", which is not his name. I am using the name Mitch because I don't know anybody with that name. But the rest of it is true.

Mitch took painting classes, and no other art classes because, as he said, all he wanted to do was paint so why take other classes? I have no objection to that in theory, but it wasn't getting him closer to getting a degree if that's what he wanted, and there are only so many painting classes you can take before you run out. But that's what he wanted to do.

He painted abstracts. Do not, for even one single moment think that I dislike abstract art. (I LOVE abstract - its like music that doesn't need words - but that's a different post.) All of his work was done in oil, with a very tiny brush, using teeny tiny brush strokes, to make teeny tiny areas of colors covering large spaces of canvas or masonite. There was no variety to his work, in color or composition - all of his paintings looked pretty much the same, and he didn't name or number them so nobody could tell them apart. Including Mitch.

Mitch did not do class assignments. We generally had something assigned weekly, some technique or media we were to explore. None of the assignments were a hardship. Nobody needed to repaint the Sistine Chapel. But I found that the assignments, even the ones I did not enjoy or do well or both, were useful to explore new avenues of art. Mitch said that he didn't need to do assignments because he already knew everything he needed to know to paint.

After finishing a piece, Mitch would take it home and add it to the stack of paintings he said he had at home. He did not try to show or sell his work. He would not contribute to the quarterly student shows the art department put on. When asked, he said that people who were interested would find his work. I don't know how they could since nobody outside of painting classes ever saw any of the paintings, but he seemed to think that word would spread.

I did not understand Mitch's work, nor did I even really like it. Canvases filled with tiny strokes of various colors, with no compositional or design elements to make them interesting are not what I enjoy. But Mitch was happy working on his little strokes of colors.

Was it art? Must be. Art is what makes you happy.

Short Story

Janice sent me a story. It seems appropriate to post.

Subject: re what makes you happy

Reminds me of a short story I once read. An artist was not appreciated. No matter what he did, it was met with a big yawn. He became depressed and then came up with an idea. He stood at the top of a tall building, splashed buckets of paint over himself, and lept to his death. He was certain that at least this way he would go down in history as a martyr to art. People on the sidewalk were shocked and appalled to see the smashed body of the young artist, all the paint colors mingling with the body fluids. One young woman finally spoke up and said, "oh, it's beautiful". The young man with her said, "yes, but is it art"?

If I can understand it, its not art

I made a sculpture, for a design class, and showed pictures of the finished object at work. They had been hearing me talk about it and wanted to see how it came out. One of the guys looked at the pictures and said "I didn't know that could be called art". I asked why. He said "I like it and I figure if its something I can understand, its probably not art".

I am happy that he liked my sculpture. I told him that if he likes something, it just means that he likes it.

Art doesn't have to be difficult. But there are many people who think that art has to be difficult to understand, or is out of their reach, or is only good when its complicated. Then there are other people who want all the art they see to be pictures of something. Abstract isn't art for them.

What I think is that art can be what each person wants it to be. If Elvis painted on velvet makes you happy, then that is what art is for you. If the only art you accept needs to be explained to anyone who doesn't have an advanced degree in art, then that's what makes you happy.

Art makes me happy.