Sunday, January 10, 2016
A Gentle Reminder that Your Art is Shit
The Creators Project: You know how compliments can bounce right off you but every insult burrows deep into your soul and lives there forever? That’s why for some of us, affirmations never quite work. A video that presented beautifully animated visuals with a calming voice that said, “Your art is amazing,” would be absolutely useless. But somehow this video that assures you in gentle, soothing tones that your art is shit and your dreams are lies is totally therapeutic.
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4 comments:
I appreciate the sentiment and message in this video. I think this relates to other aspects of life as well. If everything is awesome and amazing, then nothing is. One could relate this to participation trophies/awards for sports and other activities for children. Without critique and criticism, how do we improve? On Top Chef, and other similar TV shows, many times contestants aren’t eliminated for something bad or wrong, but for the simple reason that theirs was the least successful. I have found this to be especially true since coming back to school. Disregarding changes in design or construction, every time I do or redo a drawing, I learn something. In part, who is to say what is shitty art and what isn’t? There are some things that are clearly shit and need that critical feedback and criticism. For example, if you are trying to draw a realistic life-like person and it ends up looking nothing like a person. But if you are creating something abstract or isn’t supposed to look like something real, who is to say if it is shit? After all, isn’t beauty in the eye of the beholder?
I'm not quite sure how i feel about this video. i think that its purpose is... comforting in a way. It aims to address the insecurity that all artists have about their work, that it will never be good enough. It brings up the assurance that every artist feels this way so you are not alone. The article mentions how the calming voice helps you to accept this video as positive and I think the last sentiment that their art is shit too is also assuring. The beginning of the video, calling all modern artists unoriginal and claiming that we "stole" our styles from the artists of the past sparked my curiosity. I mean, I can see the point that this video was trying to make but I also feel like it was condemning the study of past art, and really, how can you not be inspired by their works. Just like any subject, the past sets precedent for how we do things in the present and maybe the video aimed to bring up the fact that we are relying to heavily on their styles, but i think that in the end, the art you create is based on how you see the world, and what you saw in the art of the past. I think what confuses me about this video is that it calls our art shit, and then says that its not as good as the artists of the past but, if they call our art shit, shouldn't the call all art shit? If all of our art is a "disgusting blend" of all of the art we've stolen from, then how does that make artists in the past any different? I think this video aimed to be positive but was only positive because it beat you down by saying "your art is shit" and then made that the standard by saying everyone else's is too, and i don't know if that is really the right way to promote their message. overall, this video doesn't make me feel better about myself as an artist.
While I appreciate the sentiment of this video, I think that the effect was slightly wasted on me, as someone who tends to look on the positive side of things. I don’t mean positive in the way of “my art is beautiful and great all the time”, but positive in the sense that I am consistently and constantly amazed and in awe of the artwork of people past and present, and admiring these pieces pushes me to try to create new things. Thinking of these artists’ work as shit does the opposite of make me feel better, since that is the art that is inspirational to me. Not to sound hypocritical, but I feel like there has been a recent movement within our generation of artists to be very self- deprecating and negative about their own art, possibly in an effort to seem ambivalent, or to appear overly modest. While I definitely think it’s important to never think of yourself in a position as an artist where you can’t move further, because of course, we always can, I don’t think it’s helpful to use the word “shit” to describe what you do; if you genuinely think that your work is shit, maybe you should change it!
I can see the message this video is trying to send, but I don't really think it delivers successfully. Even though the video is meant to be positive, it still gave me a negative vibe and wasn't encouraging at all. Calling everyone's art shit is not a realistic view of the world. Even if everyone's art is "shit", it is undeniable that some "shit" are better than other "shit". No matter what you call art, art is still subjective and in everyone's eyes, certain pieces of art will be better than others (although that varies from one person to another). Even though the "negative attitude" of this video is very eye catching, I think the video would've been a lot more successful if it sent its message in a more positive way. At least for me, when I am working on a project, I work a lot better when I am thinking positively, and the thought of "my art is shit, but so is everyone else's" would not help at all.
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