If we are going to yet again revisit the “what is art” topic I would
like to make a bid for a civil and mature approach to the discussion.
Respectfully,
Andy Cooperman
It's "No Mo Po Mo!" for "no more post modernism".
David’s erudite and whimsical discourses have brought to mind
something that’s good to know. That is that artists by and large
don’t care about any of this. “True artists”, which I would define as
those who must do art or explode, mostly just want to work. It’s the
rest of the field that has a need to categorize and analyse it all.
Music is the biggest offender - “Tex-Mex retro rockabilly pop-rock”,
and the musicians just say, “Hey, it’s my thang…” Monet didn’t
set out to start a movement called Impressionism, his vision was
failing and he painted what he saw (but you knew that, of course).
It’s interesting - I find it very interesting to discuss philosophy
in general. But the artists themselves mostly don’t much care what
you call it. It’s just their thang…
John,
"True artists", which I would define as those who must do art or explode, mostly just want to work. It's the rest of the field that has a need to categorize and analyse it all.
I’m with you on this. My son is an artist and while he could hold
his own with the best of them discoursing on what makes art, it is
how driven he is to produce that makes him what he is. He seems to be
literally “forced” to produce work from whatever is going on inside
of him. And he always has been.
Daniel R. Spirer, G.G.
Daniel R. Spirer Jewelers, LLC
1780 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge, MA 02140
But the artists themselves mostly don't much care what you call it. It's just their thang......
John, this is where I got caught up -in the catagorizing of myself -
I’m not much but, I’m all I think about…
Before I had some success in my field I was just a working
craftsman, come in and work everyday. But, then this idea that if I
were able to catagorize my work and myself it would help with
marketing and with better marketing I would become more
“successfull” at least financialy. This was my hubris starting to
flower and it got me away from my work and did so for a long time
until just recently when I realized the work is the most important
thing to me and the marketing is better done by others. If I start
to believe the marketing about myself I get stupid. Better for me to
concentrate on the work and the client.
The pride must be focused on the work, the pride of doing a good
job. The marketing and selling of my work cannot be the reason for
the work, but the other way around.
Some life lessons learned, take what you like and leave the rest.
Sam Patania, Tucson
How about the legendary street encounter between leonardo and
michiangelo it occurred during the time they were both commissioned
to work on opposite walls of the the same room mike was to paint the
Battle of Cascina and lenny the Battle of Anghari. lenny got stopped
by some dudes arguing over a detail of dante’s inferno he see’s mike
turn a corner and before mike can go the other direction he say’s to
himself i dont want to argue with these guy’s he yells out LOOK!
theres mike he will settle it. mike is of course suspicious and
thinks to himself lenny is tryin to set me up again ! so mike turns
as hot as yosemite sam and yells back " explain it yourself, you the
man who made the model of a horse you could never finish ! and the
idiots of Milan believed you!
goo
My son is an artist and while he could hold his own with the best of them discoursing on what makes art, it is how driven he is to produce that makes him what he is.
I’d like to point out for the students out there that all
(presumably) artists go through formative years- “What’s it all
about, what is the nature of things, and art, what am I about, what
is ‘my voice’?” In my mind, this discussion is not to discourage
that, which would be futile anyway. In a nutshell, though, without
getting all verbose about it, artists make art - it’s the spectators
that seem to need to build up this whole thing around it. I look at
my portfolio, and I find it hard to pin it down to any “type” -
maybe I can’t see it, though, because it’s mine. It’s just my work.
I think it comes from olden times - DaVinci, Michaelangelo - when art was this mysterious, arcane thing that only a chosen few could do, and artists were elevated much like the medical profession was
I think that they were like other artists of their time, commercial
business people. They all were dependent on patrons to commission
them to a work and those patrons often had a great deal to say about
the what the piece was made of and what was depicted.
marilyn
Maya Angelou said: "Give generously, and receive graciously." I would pose that when you refuse to acknowledge a compliment, it is a form (however subtle or not) of denial or a judgement of the others persons ability to perceive reality.
I think that many Americans can not receive a compliment. I don’t
like to give a compliment and be told all the flaws which I may have
been aware of and overlooked as unimportant.
marilyn
I don't like to give a compliment and be told all the flaws which I may have been aware of and overlooked as unimportant.
When I give a compliment or acknowledgement and someone dismisses it,
I just say “I think the appropriate response is thank you.”
Richard Hart