On making bad art
Getting all D&M here for a while on art – good or bad – and what it means to me.
Art is an experience
To me, this quote from Robert Motherwell sums it up nicely. The making of the art is what moves me, what really gets me excited. The processes of layering, drawing, scratching, collage. The exploration and the experience. The finished piece is simply an artifact of the art.
The viewer of that artifact will have an entirely different experience than I did in the making. In fact, no two viewers will have the same experience, because we are all unique, and while we may share many things in common, we do not experience them in the same way. And again, it is the viewer’s experience of the artwork that is important to them (putting aside those strange people who buy art as an investment and store it in a vault somewhere – they don’t value the experience, and in that regard I would argue they don’t value the art at all).
Art is a verb
Once you get your head around the fact that this concept redefines art as a verb, you need to consider what makes art “good” or “bad”.
I contend, in this context, that there is no bad art. Since the art is the experience of making and/or viewing, my experience of making the art and the viewer’s experience are both valuable. And most importantly, considering the experience of multiple viewers, some may consider the final artifact of my experience good, and others may consider it bad. As the saying goes, “You can’t please everyone all the time”.
Many artists are afraid to show works in progress or unfinished pieces. I would like to say that is limited to beginning and naturally timid artists, but it is not. Even well established artists may suffer from this. Sadly, they may also be afraid to show finished artwork that they consider “bad”. It is really irrelevant.
Rather than hearing “here’s my new painting I’m so proud”, I would enjoy hearing from an artist that says “I worked really hard on this painting, and it hasn’t turned out the way I expected, but along the way I learned something really great.” And then they can follow up with that great finished piece that incorporates the learning and say “I’m so glad I made that bad painting – look at what it taught me. The experience was so valuable.”
"Toffeelicious" - and Taffy!
In the spirit of sharing, regardless of whether you might think this is good or bad, here is Toffeelicious.
This is a mixed media painting I completed 2 years ago. At the time I thought it was quite good – now, not so much. But I can tell you that I had so much fun making it, and I also learned some valuable lessons about collage and how to keep my papers from warping too much in the process. The art of making taught me, and for that reason I have no desire to hide this, or pretend it isn’t mine, or destroy it or anything like that.
What I have done is use that painting to create some really cool designs in my wearable art line – introducing my new collection “Taffy”. Now tell me that’s not a fun experience for someone!
So please, artists, I implore you – share your artwork, share your processes, don’t be afraid to “fail” – because if you are “arting” (it’s a verb now remember) you are going to have ups and downs – but if you embrace the process you are doing exactly what you are supposed to do, and that is a total success.
And dear viewers…. please know, that if you are looking at someone’s painting, or sculpture or anything that they have crafted, know that it was made with their heart and soul. That the experience they had was so wonderful, and resulted in this artifact that someone may enjoy. Whether you feel the artifact is “good” or “bad”, the art of making was good, and your experience and acknowledgment of that goodness will help that artist grow and thrive.