Moriarty just about summed this one up for me:
" Now I just realize that there is a certain sense of design that he's keen on"
"What it comes down to, for me at least, is taking what they are teaching me that is relevant (and the good greatly outweighs the bad) and applying it to the work I really want to do"
The realisation that I came to about halfway through my BA was exactly that described above. Certain tutors liked certain things about my work. By the end of the course I'd got to the point where I could say "Andy Stahl won't like the way I've rendered that character, but Bruce McLean will definitely be into the style", or whatever. Rather than placing tuition in a situation where it becomes useless, this helps arrive at a more balanced view of your work. In the same way as being aware of your own tastes/ prejudices (eg. I was looking around "Days Like These" at the Tate Britain yesterday my favourite thing was undoubtedly the big Paul Noble drawing, but I know that's not because it was necessarily the *best * work there, but because it's a big cartoony drawing of a bizarre virtual world, and that kind of shit gets me going. Good show, btw, and free, check it out Londoners) when viewing the work of others is valuable, being aware of the tastes/prejudices of your audience allows you to filter what they say through that and end up with ideas on how to advance your work according to your own intentions.
Gingerbop, I get the impression from your posts here and in the "art history - what is useful?" thread that you're studying in school at the moment. Apologies if this isn't the case. I do think that it's acceptable, even necessary for examinations at A-Level (if you're outside of the UK these are exams you usually do ages 16-18, the last things before uni for most people) to ask for more demonstration of technical skill than at degree or professional level. (maybe I should also point out here that I'm talking exclusively about fine art cuz that's wot I've dun). For one thing, I'm a believer in the know-the-rules-before-you-break-them line of thinking.
You mention Matisse in the other thread. I remember standing in the Picasso museum looking at a Matisse from his collection with a teacher and saying "but miss, if I handed this in for homework I'd be lucky to get a C", to which she mumbled something indistinct and walked off. What she was probably thinking was "Well yes, if you handed in something that looked like that you would be lucky to get a C, but Matisse draws and paints with a looseness and skill that you could work your whole life towards, and if you could hand in something that had the same compositional balance and vibrancy of colour, a mountain of A-pluses would not do you justice."
I guess I'm biased because I had a wonderful teacher at A-level. Sorry to be so anecdotal but here's another one: Our first A-level project was a 'visual examination' of a fruit. So you chose a fruit and drew/ painted it in various media, whole, sliced, rotting, under a microscope, etc. etc. We were supposed to fill one sketchbook page a week, or something. So one night I was at home trying to do and oil painting of my nectarine and it just wasn't happening. Out of frustration I scraped the whole thing back and began laying on big chunks of solid colour. The result was something unlike anything my young hands had ever produced and I was very pleased with it. The next morning I started to bottle - I really thought this painting would not go down at all well, to the extent that I snuck out of the classroom while the teacher was looking at everyone's work. I came back in to find her holding up that page of my sketchbook and the whole class quiet. Basically she told me that this was exactly the sort of thing she wanted to see and asked, did I really think she was so conservative as to reject it?
My portfolio ended up containing pretty much whatever I liked, with a smattering of "nice", "normal" drawings etc thrown in to appease the examiners. I always felt that my teacher was "on my side", she'd be like, "yeah, I love this stuff but do a neat pencil drawing for the sake of grades as well, I know it's bullshit but what can you do?". It sounds like you haven't been quite as lucky with that part of it.
" but i dont really think they can judge us on our ideas and perceptions on things, and if they do, is it really fair to critise them so heavily?"
In a way, yes. If you carry on practising art you will find that people judge you more and more harshly as you go along, and with less regard for your feelings. And some ideas just aren't very good, and even if they are they can be executed badly. It depends on the quality of the criticism. If your teacher can come up with reasons why your painting is less good than another that has a similar style or set of concerns, you should listen to him.
You haven't got it so bad anyway - if I'd started my degree at the beginning of the 20th century I would have spent my entire first year drawing from classical reproductions. I'd have been lucky to even get to draw from a life model.
Finally, what you say about art history in the other thread (guess whose manager is out of the office): I know exactly how you feel. I hope this doesn't come across as patronising, but up until my second year in uni I had a chip on my shoulder about theory, moaning about how all the lectures were crap and it had nothing to do with my studio work etc etc. This attitude hampered my work for the whole time I held it, and with hindsight I'd probably be a more mature artist now if I'd begun engaging with theory earlier in my life. There must be artists and artworks that you love, right? It doesn't matter who or what - if you think everything since the Renaissance is brutal nonsense or if you think everything before Cubism is irrelevant - if some art is firing you, getting you passionate to make your own stuff, doesn't the idea of trying to get inside the head of the artist, attempting to understand just what it was that allowed them to achieve that quality, excite you? What about investigating why ze made it, the personal/social/historical factors involved, or the reaction when it was first displayed? It's just that when being taught in school, you get the old problem of teaching the canon, a lot of which will not seem relevant because it's not what you're connecting with. Try to apply those techniques to the stuff you really do like.
And it is possible to have your own style while being greatly affected by the work of Matisse. |
