Ancient Artist: Developing an art career after 50

The Greatest Single Factor in Creative Work

There has been a continuing thread on many of the blogs that I read, regarding the value of individual artistic thought, so today's post comes from an excerpt from my book Ancient Wisdom Emerging Artist. I believe this is an important conversation for artists to have, particularly those who are in the early stages of growing into their personal voices and are looking for direction. But also, a member of my immediate family is facing a significant health crisis that will monopolize much of my time and I still want to post to this blog.  So there may be times when I rely on excerpts, but most of the time I will continue to post new content because I value the sense of community that has grown up around Ancient Artist readers. 

 

Originality

    Today I learned that originality only became important around the eighteenth century, manifesting in western culture as an outgrowth of the Romantic Period.  That's according to a Wikipedia article.  Prior to that time people tended to like things that looked the same, which could explain some of the practices during the Renaissance, when master artists ran studios filled with laboring apprentices, leading to art history references like "in the manner of" and "from the workshop of," and my personal favorite, "from a student of."  I'm not sure if my terminology is correct - "from a student of" - but there are plenty of folks still attaching themselves to their teachers.  Personally I think this is too much influence from academia, where you list your professional provenance on everything you do.  But for the artist, well, I've always wondered why you would tell someone, "I was a student of such-and-such famous artist," when the obvious outcome is that this person will immediately compare said famous artist's work to your own.

    I much prefer artists who say "my teacher was so-and-so and he would always say..." because this is more participatory.  Perhaps I'm splitting hairs here and at the end of the day it doesn't really matter to most people whether you think of yourself as a student or of having a teacher.  But in my mind, continually thinking of yourself as a student is like refusing to graduate and step out into the world on the risk and strength of your own ideas.  It's a little too cautious where real growth is concerned.

    All this seems to point out how difficult it can be to come up with an original thought, to make art that is fresh, innovative, and creative.  The usual argument -- that cave painting, line drawing, drip painting have all been done before -- might be true on one level and an excuse for laziness on another, a shrug of the shoulders and metaphorical "Oh well."

When I first started painting I bent over backward trying to be original, and then I quit.  I realized that as soon as I became conscious of how original I was, my brain started pointing out images from other artists that looked exactly like my own.  It's similar to the children's game where you start looking for a particular car and suddenly you see them everywhere.  I can't think the word "originality" because what flashes into my mind are all the images of what was original when some other artist thought of it: Frankenthaler's huge acrylic paintings created with squeegees, Pat Steir's dazzling light waterfall paintings - you see what I mean? And while I understand what Edgar Payne meant when he said "individuality in thought is, without a doubt, the greatest single factor in creative work", it was so much easier when people all liked the same thing.

 

    The discussion I was having through this excerpt is centered around the way we construct our ideas about how to "be original."  Some of this vagueness comes from the way we are exposed to Art - with single artists lionized because they came up with an idea that may or may not have been exclusive to their work at the time.  Certainly ideas along this line, that artists must search out new methods of expression, drive various interests within the arts.  But does this become an impossible task, or an approach that relates to fewer and fewer arts enthusiasts, because it drives the work into the obscure?

    Other pressures come from the popular arts culture, which has narrowed down drastically through this recession to reflect only the tastes of the art markets that are thriving.  The pressure to compete in this shrinking market drives the work into a certain homogeneity - making it far more difficult to engage with collectors caught up in image overload.

    So what do you, as an artist, decide to do?  Where is your comfort level?  What would you tell younger (experience-wise) artists to do if you were asked for advice?

 

******

 

"I could sure hear you in the book, very upbeat and encouraging...I also loaned your book to my Tucson art teacher and she let another friend of hers read it, too.  She’s already doing most of what you suggested...she hates self-promotion like most of us do..."  TB, Tuscon, AZ

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Narrative in Landscape

 

One of my favorite stories is about Vladimirka Road (1892, Isaak Levitan, oil on canvas, 79 x 123cm, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, shown left).  It comes from the book Isaak Levitan Lyrical Landscape, by Averil King. 

Long considered one of the artist's masterworks, the story behind Levitan's inspiration is recounted by his friend:

"Kuvshinnikova recalls how she and the artist were returning from a hunting expedition when they suddenly found themselves on the old Vladimirka highway.  Now re-named Highway M-7, running eastwards from Moscow, the ancient road formed the route taken by generations of prisoners to spend their lives in Siberia.  The modern town of Gorenki, from the Russian word gore meaning grief, lies at the site of its first staging post, the place where countless families saw their loved ones for the last time.  Levitan started as he recognized the road, calling to mind 'the many unfortunate souls who trod the road, clanging their chains, on their way to exile'.  He and Kuvshinnikova sat at the foot of a weather-beaten roadside alter and talked about the fates witnessed by this highway and the sorrowful supplications that must have been addressed to the little alter."

The story continues to describe how Levitan returned to the site the next day with a large (31 inch x 48 inch) canvas and began to work directly from nature; over the course of several days, he produced what is widely regarded as his masterpiece, a stark, endless landscape under stormy skies, with a solitary figure standing in front of the roadside alter.  As author Averil King states, "It is a picture filled with sadness and foreboding, clearly suggestive of the despair of the shackled men and women who had trudged eastward through these lonely wastes."

Narrative in art is easier to understand when expressed through still life and figure, but for many landscape painters the question becomes more nebulous: is it enough to paint a scene because it consists of interesting elements? 

Certainly a beautiful painting will generate its own narraive in the mind of the viewer.

But when the artist's emotional response to a scene is also grounded in the narrative, the result can be powerful. 

What do you think?

 

*****

"I could sure hear you in the book, very upbeat and encouraging...I also loaned your book to my Tucson art teacher and she let another friend of hers read it, too.  She’s already doing most of what you suggested...she hates self-promotion like most of us do..."  TB, Tuscon, AZ

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How They Do It - The British Landscape Painters

I recently came across several DVDs that focus on the British Plein Air Landscape Painters that were quite inspiring.  I enjoyed Oil Landscapes - Quick and Easy with Brian Ryder the most, but all three instructional dvds offer insights into this painting approach from different perspectives.

 

I really enjoyed Brian Ryder  - he was funny and very approachable, offered plenty of information and created terrific paintings.  Watching him paint the sea wall was a master class in color and abstraction. I found Oil Landscapes - Quick and Easy with Brian Ryder by chance on Amazon and it is one I will watch more than once.  

 

 

 

 

You might also enjoy Painting the Light in Oils with Peter Wileman, who has a book out with the same title.  Much of the information is in both sources, and while the book is less expensive, I enjoyed the dvd more, hearing the artist  talk and watching him work.  I have been experimenting with his method of using MDF and preparing it using acrylic primer.  I've had to adjust the ingredients as we don't have the same brand names in the US, but at this point it is an experiment and I will post on the results later.

 

 

 

If you have been following Stapleton Kern's blog  you know he had several posts on Edward Seago awhile back.  The dvd Edward Seago Oil Landscape Techniques with Miles Fairhurst offers insights into the artist's approach from "Miles Fairhurst...a Suffolk artist whose father knew Seago well."  All three artists are using what is described as the "Edward Seago Approach" - starting with a toned ground, "scrubbing" on the color, and each dvd had high points and boring parts. Worth the modest $40 price range, but perhaps you don't need all three. 

 

 

 

 

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Pushing Your Art to the Next Level

An artist's "toolbox" is not just filled with the equipment he uses, but the experiences, ideas, passions, and stories that he wants to tell.  Sometimes, though, the stories are bigger than the skills, or the ideas applied to the wrong materials.  When this happens - at least in my own experience - frustration takes hold and I wonder if I will ever grow beyond the obstacles I see in front of me.

But - over the past few months I've been able to identify certain strategies that are more successful than others in pushing my art out of frustration mode into real growth:

 

1.  Change either the painting support, format, or size - or all of the above

 

North or West?, version II, 18" x 36"

The first version of this painting was on mounted linen in a 12 x 18 inch size.  I was excited about the direction that North or West (first version) and the other "old road" paintings were going, but I wasn't sure how to develop my ideas.  I decided to switch to gessoed panels and completely change my painting style.

Working on panel successfully - for me - requires different painting skills, brushwork and innovation.  I needed to move from direct alla prima painting to an approach based upon drawing and layers of glazing and scumbling, building up the surface over a longer period of time. (This painting evolved over a two week period.)  While I was initially uneasy as to whether or not I could successfully pull off a painting of this size, I took the chance and gained not only a new skill set and confidence, but creative momentum.

 

2.  Explore unconventional subject matter

That Summer When We Walked the Field, 12" x 36"

 

This is another painting on panel, actually completed before North or West. 

You can see the influence from Robert Bateman and Andrew Wyeth in this painting.  The subject matter - the edge of an irrigation canal - goes back to my early years in Oregon, and I was drawn to the emotional simplicity of the idea - which is what I find most comforting in Wyeth's work. Through the process of painting I realized I was never going to be one of those artists that could paint every blade of grass, so I needed to devise ways of accomplishing a visual reality in my own style.

I worked with scumbling colors and using a rag to rub "in and out" - a method of subtle blending in the under-painting to create form, and followed with a series of glazes, brushwork, more glazes and scumbling. Since the panel surface accepts paint differently than linen or canvas, it can take time to understand your brushwork.  But the insights let you work successfully through challenges and develop  confidence in your ability to manipulate both your paint and your surface. 

 

3  Repaint it, or over-paint it - just don't settle if it's not right

We all create work that doesn't meet our standards - some are "learning experiences" and some present the opportunity to really learn about what you are doing, even if you regret the outcome.

Lodgepole Pines is a painting I originally created in 2009.  While I liked the composition and the sense of the color temperature and light, I was really disappointed in my ability to control the brush and some of the painting mixtures.  After a disastrous attempt to "fix" a painting that I rather liked (one of the yellow cattle guard paintings from a previous post) by over-painting and totally destroying it, I decided to repaint Lodgepole Pines.

Lodgepole Pines, 12 x 16, originally created in 2009

 Lodgepole Pines, 12 x 16 Repainted 2012

The success of the second version of Lodgepole Pines comes from several factors:

• I used one of the beautiful linen surfaces from Signature Canvas instead of a commercial canvas with a poor surface that would not allow for subtle brush marks and sensitivity
• I had the first version to study and identify the successful and not-so-successful areas of execution
• I had a better skill set in both my understanding of brushwork and paint manipulation, as well as how to create proper color temperature and surface interest. 

And the failure of my attempt to fix the yellow cattle guard painting came from these factors:

• not taking the time to understand what was wrong with the painting
• deciding that a "few dabs" of color would fix it, when in fact the visual issue I was trying to correct had to do with edges and needed to be corrected by painting wet-in-wet - in other words, a new painting
• not realizing until I was well into the mess that once I began changing things I couldn't stop with one change - everything effects everything else, basic painting 101 which I ignored until it was too late

 

 Sometimes we take a chance and the outcome is positive.  It allows for growth, improvement and confidence.  Other times, we take a chance and are unhappy with the results - but before you give in to frustration, realize this:

In every painting there is something to be gained, even if you decide you made a dumb decision.  And no painting is so precious that it cannot be recreated. 

Newer, and better. 

 

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Ancient Wisdom Emerging Artist is available through Amazon.

 

 "I've got my book in the mail and I read it with great pleasure.  You have a great style and the whole book is such an inspiration.  I really enjoyed it and I keep it handy for all the moments when I doubt myself."  SM, Australia

 

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The Tree of Shoes

There is a tree of shoes near where I live.  At one time it was a cottonwood, but now is it something different, there by the side of the highway, bearing shoes instead of leaves. 

It started simply, no doubt through the random act of a brother irritated with his sister, for the first pair of shoes were pink sneakers tied together and dangling from a high branch.  After that, other shoes followed, slowly at first, then more, high-tops, running shoes, large and small, some painted fluorescent orange, tied by the laces like bolos or fetishes, a tree of shoes.  Some might wonder why people would waste perfectly good shoes in such a way, that certainly they have better things to do.  Others – so busy with their own lives – don’t even notice that the tree which once shaded the corner of the pasture now has no leaves, only shoes.  Perhaps there were too many leaves in the world, so why notice when there are less?

Nobody really knows why people began leaving shoes in the tree, but the owners of the property are leaving the shoes there.  One could argue that the only reason for that is because the highway is now too close to the tree to allow for safe removal of shoes.  Or that the owners aren’t even there anymore, only the renters, who probably don’t even notice the tree. 

One could also argue that sometimes, perfectly reasonable people decide that there is something greater in the idea of a tree of shoes, something that isn’t naïve, or foolish - given the prospects of financial success -  or that there are sometimes wonderful shoes and sometimes not so wonderful shoes hanging from the branches. 

Sure, there are people who throw their shoes into the tree and expect some reward in return, then become discouraged when there is none.  There are people who will look at all those shoes and think “ there are simply too many shoes in the world.” 

But there will be others who will leave their shoes in the tree because of that idea, the greater than the parts thing, the sense of belonging to a group of people who understand the sometimes quixotic notion that by adding to the branches of the tree of shoes they are joining in an endless conversation.

There is a tree of shoes near where I live.   

 

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Ancient Wisdom Emerging Artist is available through Amazon.

 "It's a path for life as well as art." JS, USA

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When the Art Feels Old

I have been writing too much.  Last year it seemed that I was writing and writing and painting just a little.   Some of the paintings were good but most of them felt old, old in that they were echoes of what I used to do, had been doing for so many years.  I can’t explain it,  except to say that when I looked at them I saw myself two, even five years ago, the same approach, the same emotion, maybe  a general improvement in technique and materials, but still that underlying...sameness.

There was a part of me remembering what it felt like, long ago, before I learned about painting. A part that could remember the escape into the paint without the worry that worried me now, and part that whispered late into the night that I was well on my way toward competent mediocrity.  I began reading, and then I was reading and writing too much and still painting just a little, only the painting became less and less enjoyable until I wondered if I really wanted to be an artist at all.

I don’t really think my experience is unique.   We like to call it a growth process, but it’s damn discouraging when it happens – yes, we’re supposed to come out of it stronger but that only happens if you destroy a bit of yourself in the process – that bit that holds on to what you’ve been doing, the part that creeps into your work and makes it look old.

And that’s the thing, because there does seem to be a strong rational for creating work that appeals to the gatekeepers, those in power who tell the public what to look for in fine art.  In one of the books I am reading, titled Why Art Artists Poor? The Exceptional Economy of the Arts, the author, Hans Abbing (an economist and an artist), describes what he calls the two kinds of Art – High Art and Low Art, and that those who enjoy High Art look down on Low Art, while those who understand Low Art might admire High Art but they will never embrace it. 

It’s one of the books I probably shouldn’t have started to read, when I was reading and writing too much, because it made it more difficult to get back to serious painting.  Oddly enough it didn’t interfere with the painting that felt old, so I suppose that out of cowardice I was safely painting the way I had been painting while I tried not to answer the questions as to why.

But that “getting back to serious painting” part – that’s the key phrase here.  Because what I realized was that – for myself – the painting that felt old was the painting that was hanging on to the way I used to create  – when what I was doing was slowly moving into a different place, a different perspective about what I wanted to achieve.   And all that reading and writing was simply a way for me get beyond the form of tunnel vision that had been dictating my choices. 

In an odd way I feel like I grew up a bit. That old growth process thing again. 

But the new art doesn’t feel old. 

 

 

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Working in a Series

When I was in my final year of school we were asked to present a Senior Thesis that consisted of 8 large paintings demonstrating a single concept - in other words, a series. Since I was under the Diebenkorn spell and only had 8 weeks to complete the assignment, my work was quite abstract and built around the grid. 

At the time my understanding of what a series was - and why an artist might consider working that way - was heavily influenced by my inexperienced views and the Modernism and Post-Modernism concepts that dominated the curriculum - in other words, I was faking it to a certain extent, repeating myself in different colors and textures without really appreciating what I was trying to do.

I've said before that in my growth as an artist I often do not immediately understand certain ideas, and only years later, as my skill level, comprehension and experience matures, am I able to grasp a deeper understanding of the work of the artist.  Working in a series is one of those concepts.

Right now I work with two specific approaches - the Mile Post Series and the Landscapes of the Interior West .  I consider both a Series - in that they explore unique ideas in different ways and yet are connected conceptually through subject matter.  With this post I want to use a group of paintings from the Interior West series, built around the cattle guards that are iconic in the open west.

I began the first cattle guard painting with a clear image of what I wanted to achieve.  On a recent location-scouting drive we rounded a curve in the road and suddenly the scene presented itself.  The light was perfect.  Late in the year, before the snow falls, there is rich color in the sagebrush and the red and gray cinders: the oblique light of the sun is so low in the horizon it defines edges, bounces across surfaces and dances in what is otherwise a drab landscape.  There was something about the light, and the idea of the empty road and distant vista - this unique physical space - that I wanted to communicate through a painting. 

Cattle Guard, 20" x 24" © 2011

While the oil paint on first Cattle Guard painting was wet, I was happy with the surface quality.  But as the work dried - and those of you who work in oil paint appreciate this - dimension diminished, colors flattened, and texture disappeared.  (This is also a consequence of using a lighter weight cotton commercial canvas that does not have the weave of linen.) 

As I studied the painting over several days, I was disappointed by some of my paint application technique, particularly edges that became more visually hard as the paint dried. These were primarily sections dominated by palette knife work - which I inattentively rely on in an effort to create texture on a - my apologies to all those commercial canvas manufacturers out there - but on a surface quality that just doesn't cut it. Perhaps if I had not felt so strongly about what I was trying to accomplish, I wouldn't have been so hyper-critical - but I knew what I wanted my painting surface to look like, not just the pieces of a composition, and I also realized how working through a series of this same subject matter - much in the way I work with the Mile Post Series - would help me explore subtle variations of my visual goal.

Yellow Cattle Guard, and Yellow Cattle Guard - Late November 2011 developed as I tried to work out issues I wanted to improve.

Yellow Cattle Guard, 12" x 18" © 2011

 

Yellow Cattle Guard - Late November 2011, 8" x 16" © 2011

 

The locations are different ( between the Cattle Guard painting and the Yellow Cattle Guard painting), but the concept is the same.  Yellow Cattle Guard is painted on a Signature linen panel, and the Late November version is on a Ray-Mar linen panel prepped with flake white which was allowed to dry for several weeks.  For me, having the right surface really allows the full expression of what I am trying to say. 

When you choose to work in a series, the benefits are far more subtle and unique to each circumstance than you might initially assume - you are not repeating an idea over and over, but creating room for your ideas to develop in a variety of ways.  You notice details in your execution that you've overlooked because you are not so tightly focused upon compositional problems.  You learn the surfaces and solve the issues of previous work. You discover happy accidents and - particularly important to me - continued joy in putting paint successfully on a surface. 

It's probably safe to say that all artists start out at a universally equal place - the desire to create something out of shape and color and give it meaning.  But the work of the artist evolves from there.  Words, instructions, generalizations, examples cannot convey the experience of looking at a work of art that impacts our emotions, just as you cannot use words to describe what Yo-Yo Ma creates with the cello.  We must each discover our own sensory language. Working in a series is - for this artist - one way to get there.

 

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 Looking for inspiration or motivation in 2012?

Ancient Wisdom Emerging Artist was nominated as one of the finalists on Katherine Tyrrell's Making a Mark Blog for Best Book by an art Blogger along with Studio and Business Practices (published on Blurb Nov 2010) by Deborah Paris, The Gyotaku Project (published by Blurb Jan. 2011) by Jeanette Jobson, and Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter (published Nov. 2010) by James Gurney.  Thank you, Katherine!

 

 

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A New Reading/Discussion Guide for Ancient Wisdom Emerging Artist as a Squidoo Lens

In response to those of you requesting a "book club" atmosphere around Ancient Wisdom Emerging Artist, I've just finished a fun new lens on Squidoo called Ancient Artist Resources for Artists - Study Group Guide for Ancient Wisdom Emerging Artist.  

There's new content, discussions, and my favorite feature - the Dueling Debate Modules, where you can agree or disagree.  Why not get your artist friends together in a cafe or a studio and have an old-fashioned Salon?

Here is a sampling:

INTRODUCTION, EXCERPT:

Ancient Wisdom Emerging Artist is about your art - why you create art, and the choices you must make in order to create art. It is partly a discussion on the practical aspects of the art business, as well as an exploration into your own private understanding of what it means to be successful as an artist.

Just buying a book and reading it isn't always enough. The experiences of artists differ. The motives for creating differ, as well as the sources of satisfaction. While Ancient Wisdom Emerging Artist is written from personal experience, as well as the experiences of others, it raises questions that are not easily answered.

This lens is an additional resource as you begin to identify your own questions.

This lens is about taking risks.

It's about finding your voice.

It's about art.

 

DISCUSSION EXCERPT

Creating commerce through our art work

...and the difference between the two

Art and commerce have always had a partnership: throughout most of world history, art was a commodity - a decoration, a fetish, forms of identification, or a means of story telling to an illiterate society. Artists worked for patrons and created on demand. Very few signed their work, and only within the last century has the idea taken root of the Artist creating Artwork as a means of personal experience - performance art, earth works art, environmental experience art. While expressive freedom has indeed opened the doors of opportunity for many artists, for others, the reasons behind the "why" of creating art have become far more nebulous.

Creative people struggle to find meaning and purpose as a daily experience. Without a "patron" we find ourselves on our own. And we ask: Who will buy our art? Who will help us sell our art? How can we justify the long hours of hard work with so little financial reward? Where will we find the funds needed to replenish our supplies, pay our mortgages, and contribute to our families while still maintaining our creative purpose without having to give up?

In Ancient Wisdom Emerging Artist, the section on How to Mentor Yourself focuses upon how we can identify sources of inner emotional support, obtain practical knowledge, discover methods to improve our craft, and build resources to help maintain emotional balance. Discuss your response to these questions:

Do we create as a form of self expression? And if so, then when our "expression" is not appreciated why do we begin to doubt ourselves?

Do we create to sell in the marketplace? What does this mean in terms of the decisions we make regarding what we produce? How does this affect our interest in the work - whether the work sells, or does not sell?

What ideas did you respond to in the essay by Shannon E Myrick, Ph.D, titled "Motivation and Art: Does getting paid for your work lower its quality?" How does this theme of intrinsic verses extrinsic motivation work it's way through Ancient Wisdom Emerging Artist?

Depending on the type of art you create (photography, sculpture, pottery, jewelry, clothing, painting) how have you integrated your personal expression into your work?

How do you think you are honoring your creative vision and why do you find this important?

What are your best methods for maintaining a balance between what seem like competing concerns?

***************

I hope you will hop on over to Squidoo and see what's there - it's too much to recreate on this blog. 

Best to all of you - thank you so much for supporting Amcient Wisdom Emerging Artist, and wishing all of you a happy, creative life every day. 

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Great Gift Ideas for Artists, Art-Lovers, and those who just like lists

One of my favorite Christmas songs is the one they play continually in the malls and on the radio - "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..."  It always makes me smile, and take a moment to stop and simply enjoy the season - the weather, the decorations, the smell of warm cookies -  without all the hectic demands.

If you're like me, you are always thinking about what you can get for that "hard-to-buy-for" person in your life, particularly if that person is an artist or an art-lover.  So here's a list of gifts that are sure to fit into almost any stocking.

A subscription to an Art Magazine.  Some of my favorites are Art of the West, Fine Art Connoisseur, Southwest Art Magazine, and Plein Air Magazine (Outdoor Painter).

A Fine Art coffee table book - here is a terrific one by Everglades Artist Jo-Ann Sanborn, titled Embracing the Everglades, that features her artwork as well as the story of this endangered area. Embracing the Everglades is available from her website.

Every artist needs a good brush soap, and one of the best I've found is Jack's Linseed Studio Soap, available from Cheap Joe's.

Instructional DVD's.  Some of the Best are by Quang Ho, Scott Christensen, and Sherrie McGraw.

Liz Massey compiled an original and creative list of gift ideas on her blog Creative Liberty

Consider giving a small piece of artwork, or a gift certificate from a favorite artist, gallery, or workshop.

Show your support for what your favorite artist is doing by becoming their "patron" - consider a gift certificate offering to help clean their studio or cook dinner. Or just tell them how much you love their art and want them to keep creating it.  That would be the best gift of all!

For the aspiring artist of any age, don't forget Ancient Wisdom Emerging Artist the business plan (not just) for the mature artist. In my Gratitude Jar (image above) I have many "notes" of gratitude for all of the wonderful comments you have been sending my way about Ancient Wisdom Emerging Artist.  Here are just a few:

Thank you so much for your wonderful book.  It's full of great ideas and plenty of wisdom that I will put into practice.

I've got my book in the mail and I read it with great pleasure.

You have a great style and the whole book is such an inspiration.

Thank you so much. I really enjoyed it and I keep it handy for all the moments when I doubt myself.

For those of you in the UK, the book can be purchased directly from me (email me) or through Amazon US store, but the Kindle Version is available in the Kindle UK store.  And if you like it - or even if you don't - please consider leaving a review. 

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

 

The Dreaded C-Words

In 1984 Suzi Gablik made this observation about the effect that Modernism, and Post-Modernism, had upon art and culture: that the “values of the marketplace” had replaced or undermined any sense of a “meaning-giving function” in the art being created. Artists found themselves in a cultural and economic system that rewarded those who created commodities that met the needs of the Art Market.  As Andy Warhol stated, “Why do people think artists are special? It’s just another job.”

In this 2011 article from Intelligent Life magazine Warhol is described as “the art market’s one-man Dow Jones.”  It would seem that Gablik’s observations about the influence of the marketplace upon current art markets has not declined over the past 27 years but increased.  More than ever it would seem that art has become a commodity.

Even on the local level there is influence – a general sameness in what is being offered, a cautious refusal to take risks outside of the most deliberately provocative markets - risks that go both ways, toward the avant-garde as well as toward traditionalism. And while Gablik did not foresee the equalizing influence of the internet, she did address the negative consequences of our cultural slide into Pluralism, where so many ideas about the value and purpose in art, offered by so many artists each exploring unlimited freedom of expression, have muddied the waters to the point that our culture has lost a sense of any “pattern of meaning” in the art it promotes.

Realistically, considering the social and economic environment that exists today, an artist cannot ignore the forces of the marketplace unless he is willing to withdraw completely and work in isolation, seeking neither recognition nor income. But in our own art practice, whether we are working for profit, for recognition, for pleasure, or for anything else,  are we - or should we be - confronting the dreaded C words?

No, not commodity.  

I am thinking more about these C words:

Creativity

Courage

Compassion

Compulsion

Culture

Creativity is the conceptual opposite of commodity. Courage is necessary to resist the status-quo and to live a creative life in harmony with one’s inner values. Compassion allows the artist to find his path between the competing interests of the market and his authentic artistic voice.  Compulsion drives the artist’s need to reflect the image of the world as he sees it in both his art and his practice, and culture is the carrier of all that we value. 

What is our art for? 

What is your art for?

Please leave your comments, ideas, thoughts…

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