THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE IS PURELY OPINION. IT IS IN NO WAY MEANT TO OFFEND ANYONE.
This question has been bothering me for quite some time--probably ever since I first picked up a pencil and found out about Jackson Pollock's works, which (forgive me--it's an opinion) leave a lot to be desired. The most astounding thing about Pollock, however, is that he's world-famous! For splattering paint all over a canvas with no real direction or purpose (again, opinion), his works have made quite a bit of profit at auctions.
More frustrating than this, I feel, is how often the same rule of rulelessness is applied even today. At my university, one of the art professors (quite a pretentious person) was recently awarded a feature of his art in a national exhibit. Well, I took the liberty of viewing this piece through the news article on the school page, and reading the corresponding article, as well.
First of all, I could hardly consider it art, myself--due to its completely abstract nature where there seemed little direction. The next annoyance came through in the article, where the professor was speaking of giving a lecture to his students about how, "with a little determination, maybe you'll also get your work in a museum."
Randomness does not take determination.
Pictures, images, paintings with meaning--a deeper motivation and a recognizable message--those take determination. They take years of perfecting a craft. Throwing stuff together and calling it art does not.
There will always be a rebuttal from the fans of this work and people who just appreciate it, and I understand this. It's all about the deeper meaning, looking at the random mess of lines and shapes and seeing the artist's message.
What message?
Where do you see, in that sector of a labyrinth of paint splatters--which looks exactly the same as the other 92 sectors of the "painting"--the artist's clear message and purpose?
I feel as though half of the message you see is you looking for a purpose where there is none.
Art is a gift, and it is a passion and a talent. If someone can pass off paint splatters or a spontaneous jumbling of irrelevant shapes and figures, call it art and have it featured in a museum, then so can everyone else. And suddenly, art isn't special, anymore. When every person and their aunt can pass off whatever they want as art, the word and medium of "Art" becomes utterly meaningless. It no longer takes skill. People would no longer go to colleges or special programs for the arts to develop talents they've possessed forever, because the three year old down the street is making more money than they are for creating popsicle stick sculptures.
Again, the previous article was purely opinion, and in no way meant to offend anyone.
On a lighter, and somewhat different note, I'd like to take a moment to give an update.
My friend in Texas called yesterday, and gave me a heads-up about a business opportunity starting in September. He's a bit nerdy, just like me, and he wants to open a game shop in town to fill the hole left behind by our local video store, which went out of business at the beginning of last year. So he's asked me to design the shop logo, i.e. the light-up sign that's going to hang above the door and/or on a stand. He's offered me $5,500 for a great design, and to me, $5,500 sounds like great pay for an art project! In addition to the sign, he also wants a painted mural on the building interior, and is willing to pay even more the mural. So I might have a bit of artwork ahead of me!
In the way of literature, I've been falling off a bit on the manuscript. I'm no less interested in finishing the book, but I really need to find a program or something of that nature to help with self-discipline.
Other than the manuscript, I've been hard at work on a short story for a contest on the art site I frequent.
If you'd like to check out my page, here's a link to Sinergy-v2-0, my profile. There are a bunch of old sketches and digital works, as well as a couple older pieces of literature.
The short story will be called The Last Kitten, about a post-apocalyptic Seattle man trying to make sense of the wreckage of the world after an event called the Sickness, which was an uprising of a disease similar to polio, but attacks separate limbs and extremities rapidly, instilling paralysis until the heart and brain are paralyzed and thus cease to work.
One day he finds a starving kitten among its dead litter and mother, and decides to watch over the animal and give it the best chance he can to help it live on in a dying world.
More news still, a good friend of mine is trying to get a job at IGN through an Edge Shaving event on Facebook, and if you wish to help, go like all of her posts with the work4ign hashtag at https://www.facebook.com/jordan.sheehan.18?fref=ts
That's it for today. I'm going to start posting on a set schedule: Tues, Thurs, and Sat, before 3 P.M.
Until next time!
-Dakota
Abstract art is a bit like whatever the latest fashion fad is. If the artist is "cool" enough, all sorts of people with too much time, too many advanced degrees, and a desire to hear themselves pontificate will declare it "art" and make up all the necessary B.S. to support the claim. It is a created world that has little to do with reality; thus the label abstract fits rather well.
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