Reading Response 4

Summary:

There are many issues with “art” as an academic field. Typically, either MFA grads are turned away for lack of experience, or a more veteran artist’s achievements are not appreciated. It is common for one’s art-making practice to disappear once they begin teaching at an academic level. This is an interesting paradox as the best way to teach is to be very learned in the practice, which only comes with experience.

It has been noted that there is a massive drop off of art-making once students graduate. This can be attributed to a few different reasons. For one, a school provides an institution in which one can focus almost all of their energy towards making work. Two, “making art” is not considered a “real job,” so many former art students find themselves selling their souls to profession.

What makes some art better than other art?  Art that is provocative creates a mutual interest between the artist and the viewer. “We do not long remember those artists who followed the rules more diligently than anyone else. We remember those who made the art from which the ‘rules’ inevitably follow.”

Old work is often looked upon negatively by the artists. This is not because the old work is not “good,” but rather because the work is made by a less experienced and artist.  The practice of art is the practice of asking questions and finding answers. Much art is referential to other art in some way, however all art is autobiographical. The artist should always be striving to make work that is in realization of everything the artist knows about themself and their relationship to everything else.

Interesting art has interesting ideas behind it. In the end, effective art is art that the artist cares about.

Response:

Again in this text, almost all of it rang very true to me as an artist and a person. I was interested to hear an angle on the academic side of art and many of the pitfalls of this. I find that my academic experience as an artist is different from the author’s however. It is possibly the transformative psychological phase, which college has led me through, but I also feel that I have been surrounded by a unique group of faculty artists whose art is as effective as their teaching.

At one point as I was summarizing this chapter, I reached a point which I could no longer summarize, and I could only directly quote. “We do not long remember those artists who followed the rules more diligently than anyone else. We remember those who made the art from which the ‘rules’ inevitably follow.” This two-sentence quote I could say exemplifies my largest critique with current art and one of the most essential parts of my art-making philosophy.

When I see artists working towards upholding tradition, I am appalled, but I am also instilled to set myself apart from this. The very word tradition implies a certain mimicry of those before you and a certain static frame of mind that is not willing to challenge beliefs or practice. Traditional conforms. Art should never conform and should always challenge.

When I decided to commit to being an artist as opposed to a “designer, businessman, professional, etc.” I decided to embark on a much larger journey than following rules and creating meaningless, traditional bullshit that is all too commonly seen. I decided to embark on this journey to learn about myself, reality, existence, and all of the various aspects attached. Through this act of learning, I also strive to create work that has never been seen before and will never be seen again.

My art is a manifestation of acquiring wisdom and doing whatever it takes to persist in this.