Shad Hall
July 9, 2007


Thank you to...

Rebekah N.
Teddy W.
Wikipedia


Copyright © Shad Hall
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v. 2




Intro


In this article I will explain the concept of True Art versus Art Failure in detail. My goal is to encourage people to consider their honest reaction to art rather than responding superficially.

This article is a compilation of my thoughts elaborating on this theory. Theory in itself is an elegant word for opinion. With that said, who is to say one way of thinking is right over the other when it comes to opinions? I know what art means to me and am not writing this in hopes of public approval, as art will always mean something different to each person, but hopefully this article will clarify some aspects regarding art appreciation that will enlighten people to refrain from easily complimenting a piece of art work merely because the piece is pretty.

The term Art Failure is such an anger-inducing and provocative idea that I need to explain: Art being True or a Failure is entirely a personal experience rather than a corporately shared opinion.

The worse thing a person can say about a piece of art is the ever-insulting expression, “George, wouldn’t that picture go good with the drapes!?” True Artists do not want their art to merely match your furniture. Art should grab your attention, not blend in with your drapes. Art referred to as kitschi e.g. yard flamingos, etc. can eventually become valuable over time, usually for novelty reasons if nothing else.

Art is supposed to be emotional. It should mean something to you. It’s supposed to have heart and soul. I had one person tell me that there is too much “emotion” in art today. He suggested that as body chemicals cause emotions to fluctuate, creating art with emotions is not a reliable method. That concept in itself regarding art validity is the largest piece of malarkey that I have ever heard. Contemplate for a moment how great Jazz musicians such as B.B. King or Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong would sound playing their music without emotion. Music is art. How then can art not have emotion (heart, soul, feeling)!? Art (music, painting, etc.) is created from the right side of the brain; analytical creations such as mathematics are created by the left side of the brain. Imagine if spaceship engineers worked with only the right side of the brain; I’m sure the spaceship would never take off from the ground. Now consider if artists created art from the only left side of the brain. Art wouldn’t have any feeling; it would be too sterile and analytical. Now, if you’re trying to make a point in your art piece, then Pointillism is a type of art, but I’m only trying to address the foundation of art in this article.

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Art should emotionally stimulate and/or move a person. Creating a piece of art in a photo-realistic manner is not merely art for the sake of looking photo-realistic. Computer programs are available today that can make a piece of painted art look photo-realistic or a photograph look painted. Good/True Art is about subject presentation rather than mere skill. Create art that demands attention when people walk into the room. Grab them with a vengeance. And when you believe that you have stepped outside of the box with an artistic presentation, go further! Always push presentation and please, for the love of the children, scaring someone looking at your art is not necessarily grabbing them with a vengeance! Presentation is everything. Regardless if you use digital image editing software and/or are a graphic designer, web developer or whatever, you can still control presentation even when having to meet client requests and the end-user’s needs. True Artists do not conform. Even when we are required to follow strict guidelines, we can still leave our mark on the viewer’s experience.

Considering the affluence of humankind today, more people have access to skill-training (design software, etc.) and thus we have more students learning (in and out of the classroom) art according to society. During an art walk in one metropolis I once visited, 7 of 8 art galleries on the tour provided two pieces of art that stood out to me at the time. These galleries were supposed to be of renown community artisans, but they were all inconsistent with my artistic arousal. Aside from a couple of pieces, I did not find any art that stimulated me (and thus did not cause me to want to purchase those pieces of work). I thought that most of the presentation methods of the art pieces were too traditional.

Artists need a multi-medium platform or even the opportunity to work with multiple mediums at different times in order to learn art the art of presentation.

With the popularity increase of computers in the last decade or so and the ease of publication, the public has seen so much new art (re: digital art) that on one hand they have misunderstood this for a progression in the art world, but all they have actually seen is a bunch of “slick” art. People misunderstand “slick” (perfect, trendy, etc.) to be good art; however that is not necessarily a truth. Art shouldn’t be judged by skill, but more so by presentation. I have seen children’s crayon drawings that had a large amount of heart and soul in them. e.g. In their drawings, there is a family standing in front of a tree in their yard and next to it a grave with a cross that reads, Fido. Who taught them this concept? They are young and yet they understand what True is and they have succeeded in creating True Art.

Two friends of mine have each been playing the piano for more than 25 years; one plays for the enjoyment of it and plays very well, and the other one is a piano teacher of many years. Both have played the piano since very early childhood. I prefer to listen to my friend who plays the piano for self-expression. Her piano playing has heart and soul and moves me. My other friend who is a piano teacher can play most all of her music (including complicated classical pieces) by memory and she can play any sheet music on the first try. However, her music is played so mechanically that it’s without expression and that’s too left-brained for me. Obviously, a musician should play music according to the sheet music, which my friend does, but she does so without emotion. She was trained to play perfectly, but she never learned how to pour her heart and soul into the music. Have you ever listened to a song being played in a Midi-format? It’s quite dull.

Too often we succumb to society and what it demands in determining what our finished art will and should look like, but at this time society is not demanding particulars in art aside from “emotion”. In my personal experience, I have created art with others in mind and partly due to the capitalistic era that we live in, I have also created art that would have potential selling value...up until now. Now art for me is for me and if it sells, it sells. It took some time to grasp this concept in the culture of my generation and I wonder what percentage of other artists feel this same pressure (subconsciously or consciously) in their art. I think that as long as an artist has an open attitude towards art, they are no longer limited to a canvas and can grow beyond what they ever dreamed.

This is a new millennium and no one is saying how art is supposed to be done, because everyone has lost track of who they are and what they want and so no one can oppress others with their rules of how things should be done. Have you noticed how political governments simply apply more laws and restrictions when faced with social unrest? This is the only way they know how to deal with the situation, but does it help? No. Have you even been in the store and heard a mother yelling at her child? Do you really think that helped and improved the child’s life and taught them anything? No. Meet their needs. If life is so busy that you cannot stop for a minute to address the needs of a child, then you’ve got a problem and now that child has an even larger problem too! </side rant>

Our society is looking for a place to fit and so we seem to feel comfortable playing the part of social drones and following the other lemmings towards the edge...and usually over the side. Having organization is good to a degree (especially for government) as it procures some social rest, but this is art! Artists should take advantage of this time. So, to all of the artists out there (painters / video / audio / graphic designers / sculptors and all other forms of art), please bring life and emotion back into art and do not rely on others or some far away notion of what’s popular in order to find your creative inspiration. Screw society and what it says. If you want to create something that the public wants, then you may just end up a “sell-out” artist (e.g. Thomas Kinkade, Nora Roberts [according to my sister]). Bring people up to your freedom; don’t lower yourself to their lack of enlightenment. Even with commission work, you have creative license to be artistic with their subject request. The plains are the limit! The horizon stretches wide from the West to the East with no end in sight! No one is telling us artisans how to do our art!! How great is that!? Our artistic license has no limits to it!

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Here are two completely different yet valid theories on creating True Art. As all art topics have been done, there are always new presentations to be created; as an artist, I must strive to creatively present my art that causes people to think of my name when they see my art. During an art festival I attended once, I saw a splatter/drip painting hanging in a store window and I thought to myself how that piece reminded me of Jackson Pollack, who created a style that was unique to him. I know one person who made a comment that he strongly dislikes Pollack’s work and even though some art snobs might consider this to be artistically blasphemous (which is absurd in my opinion), the piece evoked an emotional reaction, so Pollack’s art succeeded in being True Art. It’s okay to not like particular pieces of art.

There is a plethora of ways to find accomplishment in your art, but as an artist (at any level), you’re not going to find it unless you create more pieces outside of the box, both commitment-wise and in an artistic manner. A multi- media/medium/art/physical/emotional approach has to be taken. If you’ve only painted with oils up until now, I encourage you to try other mediums and media. Preferring one medium over the other is fine, but don’t limit yourself artistically due to timidity. Try all approaches. Keep in mind that along this journey (in life) you will learn who you are and this will inevitably shape your art. Do not be afraid to try new mediums and styles as art evolution is healthy, because this means your are growing as an artist. When you do not artistically achieve what you had hoped for in a piece of art, consider this growth. Look at this predicament from the other side of the coin as a positive learning experience and try not to let this supposed-failure get you feeling emotionally down.

It is beneficial to study multiple aspects of art, such as art fusion. An example of art fusion is totally incorporated fusion of sound (familiar sounds, obscure sounds, visceral sounds, poetic sounds, annoying sounds). Another artistic approach is a total environment theater which is not only sound, surround sound, so-called large screen or bigger-than-life renditions, or even something like a metabolic chair that has responsive sensors which can control body temperature so as to improve the entire state of the art viewer/perceiver experience. If you have ever been to an amusement park then maybe you have seen and/or even tried out a 3D theater. They range in size, but the one I tried was about the size of a large van and it was a complete environment atmosphere. It had audio, video, and actual physical movement. The movie demonstrated being in the pilot’s seat in a jet-fighter airplane, being on a roller coaster, and hang-gliding among other things. In the very early 1990’s this was revolutionary because this type of entertainment (or technology) had not been available to the public and we were awestruck. That was outside of the box thinking on some engineer’s part. Kudos to that artist.

Some artists (probably with limited experience for the most part) create pieces that have “shock effect” and misinterpret the concept to be emotional. Shock Effect art merely for the sake of shocking some one isn’t necessarily good art. This type of presentation is not thinking outside of the box per se. An artist should create something that is thought provoking and emotionally stimulating, compelling, or moving. I encourage you to give “life” to your art. Keep in mind that all topics have been done in art, but there are always new methods of presentation. Art is a combination of presentation and theme, but presentation is more valuable. Regardless of the medium chosen, as the artist you have free license to create a unique presentation. Create your art in a way that forces the viewer to like it or dislike it. This might sound as if I’m talking in circles as being shocked by something is an emotional reaction, but scaring someone is not good art just because you’re scaring them in my opinion. I could take a bucket of animal blood and splash it on an unsuspecting person wearing a fur coat and call it art, but how is that artistic? Because they got angry? That’s not good art.

You can create art for yourself and that would be True Art. You could also create art to move others and that could also be True Art (as long as the creativity is coming from within you as the artist). However, one man’s trash can be another man’s treasure. Art can simultaneously evoke multiple perceptions and interpretations from the people experiencing the art that are from different angles or even contradicting altogether. Today, people are so adamant in their political opinions on everything that opposing opinion is dismissed as illegitimate. Art should always have a personal experience from the artist. All feeling that is towards art is valid, as long as it is not a feeling or reaction to impress or gain the confidence of someone else. If a piece of art means something to one person, but not to another, that is not saying that it isn’t any longer art, because it’s art to the person who was moved by the piece. Is is.

When you view art or hear someone make a comment about art, keep in mind that valid emotional reactions or responses can be positive or negative; however they should never be neutral. If an art piece causes you to say, e.g. “this piece is really peaceful” or “this piece makes me angry and I don’t like it”, then the piece has succeeded in being True Art; it has drawn an emotional response (positive or negative) from the viewer. Now this is almost over-simplified, but it makes the point. If you’re at an art gallery or looking at art in a smaller private venue and you see art that you just browse past to see the next piece, then that piece of art failed to grab your attention and did not extract a reaction from you. That’s too bad. This does not mean that the art piece is automatically kitsch or bad art because it didn’t cause a reaction or response from you; it simply means that this piece failed for you. Another person may come along and have an emotional response to the piece and with them, the piece succeeds in being True Art. The reason I personally identify art as true or as failure is to create a desire within myself and my own creations that will cause me to push the envelope and strive to artistically go further. There are so many different individual interpretations as what art is and should be, which usually represents where the artist is in their art life at the time.

The other theory for creating art is creating art for others. People are looking for meaning in their life (at whatever level) and they are giving you, as the artist, free rain to create art however you want! At this time, society will take “real” from whichever party presents it, regardless of the validity factor of the seller or product. So be true and create True Art. Create something real that demands a reaction or response of like or dislike, but not neutral.

When an audience experiences (regardless of which of the 5 senses they use) your art, they should be emotionally moved by the piece and feel the piece; otherwise, you have might have merely created a pretty collaboration of colors, shapes, et cetera without an emotional response from the viewer. If the latter is the case, then that piece has failed as True Art and could be possibly kitsch.

We have been flooded with modernism, technology, and convenience and I venture to say that we have almost forgotten who we are and thus try to live according to others’ ideals. Over-simplifying the concept would be to use the cliché of humans not stopping to smell the flowers, but there is more as we have to know who we are and that takes time and challenges. Art is learning who we are ourselves. I think the reason we artists are at a loss for creating some form of moving art is that we have had our senses flooded with every possible savor there is available for that sensory organ. There is an old proverb about eating too much honey -- it’s sweet at first, but too much and one will vomit. The idea of humans progressing with new technologies of all sorts is encouraging in a productive-species sense, but we are at a place in life where we are missing emotion and the basic essence of humankind. Everyone is searching for something right now in life and I suppose that some people are not aware of this little profound fact regarding society and human kind: what makes us who we are, how we differ from other creatures, and our needs. Our emotions are going crazy and we all know we don’t like it, but for the most part of the human race, people are not sure how to fix the situation.

In the busyness of our lives there will be more days that not in which we have a lot of static going on in our heads, and like art, this is something that we must learn how to deal with in order for us to mature. The thread topic of “help, I can’t summon any creativity” comes up in art forums quite often. There are many methods for achieving inner relaxation and some work more efficiently with some people than with others. I have a couple of methods that work for me, but that’s me, so everyone must find what works for them. So since I’m not exclusively advocating any other particular methods, as you may already know what works for you with where you are in life right now, I will suggest this: in my opinion, the best place for rest of the human body (which is required for fresh ideas and inspirations) is outdoors and among nature. Did you know that the color green is one of the most relaxing colors to the human eyes? This would explain why we like to visit the outdoors for rest, relaxation, and rejuvenation of the soul.

We need to grasp the idea that the important goals of artist should be to create art that is emotional, thus “moves” (lit. or fig.) the viewer in their experience. To bring my two art theories together that I mentioned earlier, I believe that art should always move the viewer, even if you are simply creating the art for yourself. Even if you are creating a particular piece of art that only you will see, it will have meaning, obviously, or you wouldn’t be creating it. Art needs to have meaning otherwise why should we have art?


Footnotes:
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kitsch: -noun
“The term is also used more loosely in referring to any art that is pretentious to the point of being in bad taste, and also commercially produced items that are considered trite or crass.“

Quoted from and more detailed explanation with examples at:
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