Since I am starting the next chapter of my life with my
journey toward my graduate M.F.A. degree, I thought it would be appropriate to
begin a new blog. I’m going to try my best to keep posts mostly about the
evolution of my artwork (with lots of pictures)! I am hoping to use this to
keep track of my process and hopefully get feedback when I encounter problems.
I’ll try to keep word length to a minimum but I may have to go on a few rants
about theory and what I am learning in critics and classes (like in this
particular post). Hopefully this will allow me to look back and pinpoint the
ideas that were affecting my artwork at particular times.
I had my first art history class last night. I think it’s
going to take a while to get used to being back in school. It’s about the
artist in the 21st century (focusing on topics such as arcadia and utopia,
art and globalization). The first discussion focused on the relationship
between the rational (discourse, knowledge) and the a-rational.
At one point the dialogue brought up the question about the
role that skill plays in what makes an artist (and the ongoing question of the
relation of beauty and art).
Skills can be taught but what REALLY makes an artist? Is it
a way of thinking that we are born with? According to an analogy in the reading
every human has an a-rational side even if they suppress it so doesn’t everyone
have the capability to be an artist? I do love conceptual work (there have been
plenty of times that I’ve been more moved by something that is more toward the
conceptual side) and believe that an artist doesn’t have to have incredible
skill; however, I think it’s important to attempt to learn skill. Processes
like drawing, painting, and sculpture are tools that artists use to convey
their ideas. Exploring our world
visually allows us to understand it on another level. So, in a sense, skills
can push an artist to learn concept (a sort of learn the rules to break them). I
can’t deny my own responsiveness (and the response I’ve witnessed from people
not trained in art) to a well-rendered piece of art. There is no denying humans
natural inclination toward beauty in our culture; but, in my opinion, too much
beauty has the potential to be boring; art doesn’t have to be beautiful to be
art. I guess my own personal conclusion is that it’s a balance. It’s important
to appreciate all types of art; the art that doesn’t take hours of rendering
and the art that does. It’s the ideas behind the art that speak to people, even
if they don’t’ understand it. Both fit into the present art world.
I chose to do such detailed work because I like the process.
The time I take translating what I see in front of me allows me to reflect,
it’s a sort of mediation (which I’m sure many artist experience when making all
sorts of work; for me it’s drawing with charcoal). I’m not thinking about the
ideas of my artwork but rather the past, the present, situations that could
happen in the future, or just random things that pop into my head. Sometimes I
just completely zone out. This happens more so while working with the larger
drawings. I tend to put music on and let my brain wander, whereas, the smaller
drawings I tend to focus on whatever T.V. show is on in the background, the
smaller scale doesn’t push my mind to wander.
It’s extremely hard to be an artist in a time where the transformation
of the art world in the 19th and 20th centuries have yielded a world that has no
rules and all boundaries have seemingly been broken; but with that freedom
comes excitement. Graduate school is not going to be easy but I’m looking
forward to being in an environment that will help me stabilize my own personal
beliefs, at the same time opening my mind even more.
I promise not to write that much next time. Here are some
photos...
The books some of my readings will be from. I love books.
My studio!!! Some of the stuff by the door isn’t mine and it’s not completely finished but it’s so exciting. Word’s cannot express what this feels like!
