He made my day.
*Reminded me of a shirt I found in Byron Bay in about year 4 or something, with the slogan, 'Jesus loves you. Everyone else thinks you're a dickhead.' - I thought that shirt was hilarious, but I didn't have the guts to buy it. Insults weren't really my style.
hey, this is GOOD.
ReplyDeletealso, i think you should check out alexei shulgin http://www.easylife.org/ and his art.
also, borrow a book from the library called 'at the edge of art'
a work doesn't have to be aesthetic to be good. i place more importance on other things to make a work good. a bad work has no though involved, no visual characteristics, no ability to capture attention, no audience interest, no interest from the artist. this is why a sketch often is bad (not that all are, many are good). sketches involve little attention nor care from the artist, their aesthetic level is low, their conceptual level is low and therefore no one will pay any interest. thus it is bad.
rauschenberg's white paintings are considered good by the artistic community. they involve a high level of conceptual thought. their aesthetic level is low, yet the work never aimed to fill this quota. therefore it is forgiven, and the work is focused on for the ideas it raises. duchamp's readymades are similar in this sense. this is why a lot of modern and post-modern art is often considered not to be 'art' as it will hold no conceptual value. over recent decades, the face of art has changed, so that more and more art based on non-aesthetic principles exist. you only have to look at an artist run space to see this.
so i suggest to look up alexei shulgin, and also zach shipko http://www.zachshipko.com/ and judge their work based on what is deemed to be good. do they look for aesthetic appreciation? do they hold conceptual grounding? what are they aiming to do? how are they displayed? what is the audience?
contemporary art is exciting sarah! i think you should put down the pencil for a while and do something else. if only just to dip a toe in the pond. there are so many exciting ways of creating art. 2D is severely hindering your progress. it's fine to do it, an i love drawing dearly. but i think its also important to do other things, so that if/when you return to drawing, you will have a much better understanding of the contemporary art world, and what and how art can be made.
ANDRE!! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN THIS ENTIRE YEAR??!? :P You KNOW I tend to dislike work without a conceptual grounding/work without thought. This year was not about picture making for me first and foremost, it just so happens that I'm no good at making work that is founded entirely on a clever interpretation or representation of an idea. End of last semester and end of this semester, I've come to a point where Andrea has told me to give up on concepts and draw, because its just not working for me. You KNOW how frustrating this is me. Because it's so shallow. Yet I'm struggling with everything else. Everytime I make work based around an idea or a message it comes across contrived and forced. Or it looks like I'm trying too hard. And I AM! I AM trying too hard when I do stuff like that. I'm taking it you read what I wrote on the above page. That was in relation to frustration/amusement on how I've wasted the better part of my year failing. Failing in the sense that nothing is working for me. Don't get me wrong, I hold ideas in the highest value when it comes to art - anything else is incidental. But I keep getting told I can't make 'conceptual' art because its too jokey/forced/etc, so this was when I started the collage shit and failing at that too. I just want to pass this year, so if drawing is going to pull me through, then drawing is what I shall do. It's all I seem to be able to pull off with any form of honesty and conviction, so that's what I'm doing. Not because I think it's good. Not because its the kind of work I value most. But because I feel I NEED to, to get myself through this year.
ReplyDeleteAnd check your facts, post-modern is considered 'art' because it DOES hold conceptual value. It may be seen as 'anti-art' because it holds no aesthetic appeal a lot of the time. It's not about the art object as such.
This sketch is only here because I enjoyed the result of scribbling this guy down without any pressure of it being any good, and its rare to find such.. I dunno... freedom in my work. I think too much, remember?? Thats what is stopping me from making work.
And I couldn't disagree more about your sketch paragraph. While a lot of sketches are just scribbles in their own right, drawing itself is the direct link from the brain to a visual representation OF A PRELIMINARY IDEA in a lot of cases. Take joseph beuys and rudolf steiner's blackboard works for example. Its ENTIRELY IDEA. 'Finished works' are just polished versions, and often lose something in the process of mediation/overworking. Sketches are the most raw form of an idea, and their throw-away nature is what makes them most important. They are not precious. They are process. They are honest. They are a way of working through thoughts and ideas and they bring about thoughts and ideas. It is a way of thinking in its own right, depending on how you use/create them. Something a lot of us in drawing really stuggle with is our fixed concepts of art and what constitutes good art/finished work. Sketches are liberating for this very reason.
I appreciate your response all the same :)
sorry, i din't mean to have a go at you at all in that comment nor discredit your art in any way whatsoever. i got the idea though in your response that i was being rude and attacking you. i'm sorry if i was rude.
ReplyDeletei value you and your art making very highly. i have so much respect for you, and the amount of passion that goes into your work. the knowledge and understanding you have about art is incredible (as proved in your response on blogger).
i think drawing is an important part of process and development. as you said, sketches are also more valid than the 'polished works.' i was not saying that all sketches are throw-aways. what i intended to communicate was why some 'artistic creations' may be valued more highly than others - sketch vs well drawn final work. there are obviously countless exceptions, however for the majority, a sketch is often counted as the lesser form as it may lack the amount of thought/preparation or aesthetic value as the final work. again, i add that this is not the rule, and i am only speaking of the majority.
i think the reason that your conceptual works may seem comedic is that when you made them, they felt like there was a need to force ideas into them. the block of wood with trolley wheel is an example. it was shallow as it didn't look too far into how to appropriate duchamp's wheel. on the other hand, you have such a strong understanding of the concept in art. perhaps it is this amount of knowledge that brings you down?
sorry, when i was talking about post-modernism, i meant to write aesthetic rather than conceptual.
i think that you are doing the right thing with your art at present. i was incorrect to suggest you throw away drawing and try new media. i found it worked well for me, so therefore i thought it would work for you. what i forgot is that you have indeed tried a variety of different avenues over the course of the year. i am wrong to think there is no conceptual grounding for your work. there is. the newspaper rubbings hold so much in term of volume and thought. i can see you have deliberated lengthily on what they are, how you use them and what you indent them to do. your work is full of ideas and our talks at uni communicate this.
i enjoy talking to you about this all, because we have both been/are going through changes in our art practices. it's good to bounce ideas off you. every time we start a chat though, it begins from square one, a i try to figure out ideas for myself that you can empathise with. also, when i discuss your art, it is often a cover for myself as i question my own work.
i think if you are to start working in non traditional media, that will come naturally. it was silly of me to suggest you drop everything and do what i do. that was just being selfish. as i have seen it's working for me, i want everyone to do the same thing.
sarah, keep doing what you are doing, it it GOOD. i apologise if i came across as arrogant or rude. you are at a higher level than i in regard to intellect on the matter. i will stop being a twat.
goodnight and good luck.
Aaaw Andre, I didn't mean to give you that impression at all!! It's just a couple of things you made comment on that I'm just a little fragile about at the moment. Drawing/concepts/the balance between the two. I'm with you on the conceptual value front, that's part of why I'm so dissatisfied with my current practice, but I'm trying so hard to convince myself its ok. I just got real defensive, that's all :P I don't think you were being rude/arrogant/a twat at all. Your opinions are as valuable as my own thoughts on the matter. I love that you consider these things and give me the time to talk them through with you. I suppose when you say all encompassing things it makes it a little too easy to shoot you down, but I really didn't mean to attack you, so I'm really sorry if I came across a bit harsh.
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah, I was thinking you just wrote conceptual in place of aesthetic haha
Never thought you were having a go at me, of course theres value to your advice :) and I'm with you. I am SO with you. Maybe thats why I came across a bit distressed or something - because the thought that you might observe that I'm only about picture making scares the crap out of me. Because that's exactly what I don't want to get stuck doing, and I know I'm doing it right now. I'm still thinking, but my thoughts run parallel to my practice and at the moment they aren't about to cross over. But I'm on your side.
Thank you so much for your kind words :)
Really appreciate all of your input.
Apologies if you felt I was attacking you. I didn't mean to!
Much love xox
!
ReplyDeleteis this that old guy with the brown (from memory) market-style wheelie thing? with the painted Jesus slogans?!
if so, i have drawn him, too.
THAT'S THE ONE!! Haha :P he's such a great character. I'm not surprised you drew him. He's one of those MUST DRAW guys. Thanks for your comments, appreciate it :)
ReplyDelete