(A picture of the year I was born and a sticker with an interesting take on life, D3OL 09/03/2023)

A few Sundays ago, I went to an art expose. Whilst I was waiting for my plus one to show up, I took the liberty to walk around and view some of the art on display. There were many paintings on the wall priced very generously. As I am look at the painting then look to the title, I am confused as to what the painting is meant to represent.

I could see it falling under the category of abstract art, but if one is displaying their art in hopes of getting it sold, shouldn’t the potential buyers be able to understand what they are looking at? An artist can call their art whatever they like and talk about it’s background all they want. If they decide to publicly display the art, the audience must be able to find and understand the overall point of the piece.

Now I am conflicted. Let’s say two people are making art. You walk up to the first person and ask “Why are you making this piece?” The person goes on a whole shpeel about what art piece is meant to represent and the back story on how they got the idea. Now you turn to the other person and ask them.

All they say is “I don’t know, I had the idea, and I made it.” No ulterior reasoning for creating the art piece. Since the first artist had a story that led to the creation of the art, does that make the art from the second artist less than because there is no story behind it? Basically, this is the question I am ultimately trying to get answered: “Is art validated by the artist or the observer?”

I am theorising that the answer may be “it depends”. If some one takes the time to create an art piece but never release it for the public to see, then it is art because the creator is also the observer. However, This does change when the creator and the observer is no longer the same person.

If an artist is creating art with the idea that the piece will be shown to the public, they are relinquishing their right to title their art art. I think one can see how deep this question can go. We started with trying to figure out if art must be understood by the audience. Which led to the question on whether or not art is valid because the artist said so or because the audience said so.

I can see how questions previously mentioned can make the people in this space seem pretentious. Using all these uncommon words and asking seemingly pointless questions. Making art more deep than it needs to be. I am sure that someone you know or even yourself had this thought at some point and I don’t blame you. I used to have the same thoughts before I started taking my creativity more seriously. There are two theories I have that may explain why some people may have these feelings towards art.

The first being that the critic is creatively blocked. In her book ‘The Artist’s Way’, Cameron talks about how people who make critical statements about art are blocked creatives themselves. For one reason or another, they do not believe they are capable of being creative. The critiques aren’t being made towards the art, or even the artists.

Rather, it is being made to the critic themselves and they are using the art/artist as a way to communicate that dissatisfaction. What chews at the critic even more is that deep down, they know they are capable of doing something similar. They just do not have the will to stick to it. They are jealous. Jealous of something they already have. Maybe they just do not want to look.

The second theory I have is that people who use complex words to describe creations they admire are doing so to show their appreciation for it. I believe this is how it starts. Someone has something that they like to enjoy. As they dive deeper into the subject, they build more appreciation for the subject. When this happens, they may no longer feel that their current vocabulary is enough to communicate their appreciation for it.

For example, a person begins going to an art museum and is intrigued by the different paintings it has to offer. Their fondness grows and they continue to visit more exhibits. One day, the person decides to go to an art social; an event where people with a similar level of art appreciation congregate. The person overhears conversations and they discover that intricate details of paintings and how the paintings make them feel are some of the topics of discussion.

I think this is the first time where I can confidently say that I am blocked creatively. I don’t mean in the way that I am unable to come up with ideas, but more so I am unable to complete them. For example, the month of September, I was meant to be starting a competition where I am make two posts on social media about the artwork I create. There have been many (and I mean many) projects that I have started but did not complete for no good reasons at all.

The picture you are looking at above is a scene from a 3D animation I am working on in Blender. By breaking down what remains of the project, I can sit here and tell you how many steps need to be completed.

However, this is not the only project that sits 60% completed. I have started other works that still have not been completed as I am writing this. While ago before I deleted my social media for the competition, I read that when you make promises to yourself and you don’t keep them, you are subconsciously reducing the value you have within.

This will make doing beneficial things a harder task to accomplish. So the publisher of the post stated that to remedy this, one must make smaller promises that are almost impossible to break without conscious rebellion. However, I can say that even though I haven’t made much progress in this part, I have made great progress in other areas.

A good example is that I am much more private (excluding the screenshot above) with the work I create now. It is similar to not telling people your ambitions until you are 95% complete with it. That being said, there are some other things I am working on that will hopefully be exciting news when I share it. For now, I am going to keep it 🔒.

Going to wrap up this post since it was supposed to have been come out. Thank you all once again for reading this post, and I do hope that you’ll enjoy my future posts and work. The song for the post is going to be Cada Beijo: Theivery Corporation Mix by Bebel Gilberto.