Thursday, May 1, 2008

Solid Foundations...


Not to beat a dead horse, but I ran across this article concerning the development of young artists in the Wall Street Journal.

I remember how desirous I was to "shake off the shackles of conformity," when I was in high school, and later in college. However, the value in grounding oneself in solid practices can only result in stronger work, both aesthetically and conceptually later on.

Now I wish I hadn't rushed through my foundation courses.

2 comments:

Ben said...

For all the bemoaning about Jacksonville's art scene, this point seems to be the one most omitted.
I've heard the complaint that there isn't enough "good art" here, but the more courageous perspective would be to assume responsibility by examining our own craft.

I would even posit a subtle disdain towards artists in pursuit of technical proficiency.

Again, thanks for the post. This one really resonated with me.

madeleine said...

I couldn’t agree more. This city is full of autodidactics and though one can’t help but have respect for those, through sheer perserverance of will if nothign else, have created a body of work, I believe that education (and the perspective that comes with it) is of paramount importance.

This doesn’t need to be under the auspics of a university, it can be more informal, but it should teach a helthy respect for self-editing. Not every-piece, every person makes is genius. That is not to say that there is no room for experimentation, merely that every experiment isn’t a success.

I also often grow wearing of seeing the same work in three different shows. While I understand that is a function of a small art scene with limited places to show, it doesn’t mean an artist should be showing willy-nilly every month.