Lately, I have thought a lot about critiques, how they help and how they hurt artists. Surely, they can do both but many times I have noticed that people need as much practice in the act of critiquing as they do painting.
Honestly, at times I feel like some folks, including myself, don’t think enough before they talk.
Just repeating things they’ve heard from someone else. Which honestly is just like regurgitating something you heard someone else spit out. I feel it’s best to always think about the context of each artist’s work instead of creating rules and then putting them against each individual artist’s work.
Common things I hear are:
You should need to use black lines when you’re painting, and if you do then you’re an illustrator.
I find this to be one of the dumbest things I have ever heard. If black lines define whether someone is a painter or a cartoonist then that throws a large amount of Asian ink and brush paintings and wood block work into that category. Along with many non-European artists who have a great respect for the use of dark lines. Why is it that through these definitions of what is fine art, we deem work that follows European sensibilities as paintings and that which follows other cultures art styles as illustrations, cartoons or non-fine art. furthermore, we should look at what illustration really is, from what I know one of the large dividers is the idea that illustration is a form of design used to work side by side with products, stories and are usually found in books, magazines, websites, etc. What does black lines have to do with any of this? Moreover, if you don’t like black lines, instead of saying what teachers have told you, things such as: your use of color, shading and shapes should be strong enough to stand alone without a black line. Realize why you don’t like black lines. Not why someone else told you not to like them. And even if they aren’t working for you, they make work for others such as: Egon Schiele, Alphonse Mucca, Hiroshige and many other wonderful artists all over the world.
Using this style, color, character, tool is SO cliché.
What is so wrong with making things that are cliché? If you like making work that resembles Thomas Kincaid, than Kincaid away! If making paintings of cute animals hanging from trees get’s you hot, do it. The ability to know what makes you tick is a powerful and important thing and when people try to tell you otherwise, see it as a gift, well at first. When you start to feel your own resistance to other’s advice you might start to understand the things you love about your work. Surely, sometimes we put things in our paintings because we’ve been told that they are acceptable, innovative or cool. But is it not the same as teen age kids making doodles of their favorite band’s logo or little children painting pokemon into their family portrait project? What’s so wrong? The thing that is wrong, is when we start punishing ourselves for feeling, when we stop living our lives and focus on making sure that everyone is understanding what we’re doing. If you feel you have integrity within your work than fly with it.
Of course I feel it is important to “check” ourselves as artists. For myself, cultural appropriation has always kind of it a sore spot for me. The link between racist, bigoted imagery and the ability to freely express yourself is a sticky and difficult place for many artists. But I think that it is important to follow your own heart. Over the years I have enjoyed using the asian female portrait and figure for many of my works, as time has passed I have asked myself often if I use “her” because I am eroticizing or objectifying her, and others may feel that I do, but for myself, I enjoy the shape and form of rendering Asian faces. It has nothing to do with some outwardly oppressive idea of wanting folks to see asian women as exotic. Just because others may tell you your work is too black, not asian enough, not white enough, too feminist. I think that it’s all too stupid.
And even if years later you realize that what you were doing was really honest to how you truly feel, what is the biggest consequence of making those works? Not much. It’s not like the critique police are going to invade your house and throw a gouache smothered cat on your bed. You’ll just grow and you’ll even have artifacts to mark the history of that growth.
Whenever I hear people say things like: “that work is “too” punk or “too” goth or “too” traditional or whatever or “too” shock value” usually all I can think is, maybe it’s “too” whatever for you, but for reals if it works for them, it’s fine. This really isn’t about you, it’s about them. And if a critic is already saying your work is “too” whatever, they may not be looking or listening or trying to take the piece in.
It’s easier for folks to say they don’t like something or reject it instead of taking 5 minutes to try to feel it or even accept. Accept it’s existence as it is. In many ways our paintings can be a reflection or aspect of ourselves, and the people who dismiss work without a thought I feel are like the same kids in high school who were dumb and terrible and just said things like: she’s “too” fat, his clothes are “too” old or ratty, he’s “too” ugly, she “too smart”, he’s “too” enthusiastic.
Oh, come off it. And even, if it is extreme in one way or another, it’s “too” whatever, what is so wrong with that? There is nothing wrong with a little decadence, a little extremeness, a loud noise, a blaring feeling…
Something is truly cliché when it is someone telling you that your work is wrong or bad for being cliché. There is nothing wrong with making cliché work, but there is definitely something wrong with people telling you change your style because it’s not unique enough.
All art must have a purpose or reason.
This should be self-explainable. Sometimes things just happen. Even art. Raccoons like to dip strawberries in water and hold them up to the sunlight, not to help with digestion or for some kind motor skill preparedness, no, they just do it because they like how shiny it is. Coming to acceptance with our humanity, understanding that we like shiny objects, such as diamonds, hell we kill people, chop off their arms to get them, is one of the main things about appreciating some works of art.
I believe that not all things are meaningful. If nothing was meaningless than how would we ever understand what meaningfulness meant in the first place.
Other things that I feel are not helpful:
People who make insulting comments in the form of questions.
This is not only confusing but not very constructive. This isn’t laser tag, this is a crit. It’s not like you get points for attacking people and win a prize. The prize is won when a community comes together through a critique and help the artist understand what they feel are the strong and weak points of a work. When the artist is able to get feedback on how to solve certain problems or challenges within their practice as a painter. No, there are no special points for being snide, rude or evil.
People who just saying outrageous things like: this is shit, or this is terrible, or I don’t know why anyone would ever make something like this.
Umm. That doesn’t really help anyone, and even the person who said it, who might be able to boost their ego for a moment, really doesn’t benefit from saying comments like this. My grandfather always told me a story about one of this workers and how when ever the machine wasn’t working he would cuss up a storm and when my Papa would ask him what was wrong with the machine he couldn’t understand because the man swore so much you could hear the words about the actual machine between all the exclamations. He explained to me that wise people, stop, think and comment in a way that is constructive, only idiots sit around complaining and saying unhelpful things.
And I believe it, it’s much easier to yell at a kid who spills milk on the floor than it is to help the child learn how to use both hands to pour the jug. The same with a painting, if you know a different way that paint could be applied, or how the composition could be improved, add suggestions, ask questions to better understand the motivations of the artist’s work, but just telling them that the work should’ve never been made is the laziest thing I’ve ever heard.
Acrylic Paint and Permaopaques.
