Really hate that most people donât understand the difference between âself-expressionâ and âartistic-expression.â
I say this as someone who sells pottery, and many people who see my art assume I am using art as an outlet to âexpress myself.â
I use art to challenge myself. A lot of what I do is the equivalent of doing a hard sudoko or a half marathon, answering the question of âcan I do this?â
I use art to question things and explore ideas. Finding physical synthesis between concepts and working out a design to its end state.
I use art to make money. I make some things just because I suspect theyâll sell well, and I keep making them when they do.
This idea that an artist is âputting themselves out thereâ every time they create is not only stupid, but harmful, and it kills critique and analysis.
Yes every creative work is influenced by its creator, but the most preliminary step of analysis is to define the purpose of a work of art (functional, narrative, entertainment, persuasive, decorative, ceremonial, etc.) and a vanishingly small percentage of that is self-expression. Even then, itâs generally tied to the selfâs relationship with something elseâperception, society, etc.
Itâs very tiresome to have people assume they know you because they like (or dislike) your art, to make assumptions about who you are and how you approach the world. Itâs nothing newâ people called the Impressionists insane and the Fauvists degenerate. And now people are expected to hand out their identities and traumas to prove they have the right to explore certain subjects.
But to actually understand art, you have to contextualize it beyond assuming itâs just what the artist felt like making at the moment and itâs somehow coming from their deepest soul, or youâll badly misinterpret most art you come across.
jacobvanloon
ellievsbear
stormborns
dededos
2087
blakekathryn
tangentwithtanner
