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Underground > Art, Fashion & Design >

Art -- Is it worth it?

  
 
Greencat
07:45 / 10.05.10
Its been a week since the opening of my first exhibit and even though I have a new project to work on I still got into that "is it worth it" stage when you start reflecting way too widely on the state of art and your place in it. "is my art important?" "can I change someones mind?" "is anyone really interested anymore?" those are just some of the idiotic teenage minded questions I'm asking myself right now. the opening was for 6 exhibits opening simultaneously and the guests were mostly artist themselves, family members and some buyers. I received some very warm compliments, about two of them were sincere, and I started doubting myself there and then.
see I'm not a big fan of the art scene. those pretentious knowitalls that are basically masturbating to their own coolness. I like to think I'm not like that and I do my best to use critical thinking and examination on everything I do right down to the way the gallery space is organized and I got into a little argument with my curator when we were aarrangingmy stuff. she's actually an artist herself and I really do admire some of here work. she claims to be a very open minded and aadvancedthinking women and she is -- relatively, but I guess that was not enough for me. as I saw my work which I believe has a rebellious nature to it (one of my core principals is trying to remember my views and feelings as a teenager for that is, in my opinion, the most rebellious, angry and kickassing stage in a persons life when they are born an outsider) hanging there in that white space, so easy to look at and so easy to ignore, I felt like a fool. It's just aanotherexhibit, just another artist showing his views to the few ppeoplewho can actually understand them but then they aalreadyagree with my views. whoever doesn't agree with my views and does not want to eexperiencewhat I'm offering (In my case mmostlyheterosexual men) just goes away. and anyway independent movies these days are reaching the audience in a way art aalwaysintended to but can't anymore - entertaining while still able to convey a clear mmessage
meanwhile rich assholes are buying art like they used to buy sports cars.
I was born an artist, like I was born gay (or maybe it's a birth ddefect) and I can't just do something else. I also don't believe in bbeingtoo extreme (most of the extreme liberals I know where either really stupid or so sure of themselves that they didn't notice they where as ooppressiveas the ppeoplethey where working against.

I really hope some of you can understand my conflict and maybe this is the right place to start a ddiscussion


relax, this is not a suicide note

  
 
TeN
00:01 / 16.07.10
as an artist/filmmaker/writer/human being/whatever, I tend to have a similar freak out fairly regularly

I think it's a really good thing that you're questioning all of these things, and I think that rather than looking to become comfortable with those issues and placate yourself, you should instead try to find ways of solving/resolving them

start thinking about the content of your art and the way it's presented and the system it's a part of, and try to find ways that better accomplish what you want to accomplish and without as many contradictions

there's a TON of writing out there on art and politics that I think is worth reading: Jacques Ranciere, John Dewey, Allan Kaprow, Walter Benjamin, Nicolas Bourriaud, Stewart Home, just to name a few of my favorites

if you want a quick burst of inspiration, read this interview: http://www.queerculturalcenter.org/Pages/FelixGT/FelixInterv.html
it completely changed the way I view "political art"
 
 
coweatman
05:07 / 01.12.10
your art matters if you believe in it. fuckin' chaos magic and fuck everyone else, right? if you have doubt, you'll get killed.
 
 
coweatman
05:08 / 01.12.10
that and convincing some rich jerk to buy your art is like the best receipt scam in the world.
 
 
Longbody
14:04 / 25.03.13
Your goal is a violent one. It is war. You have stated that you wish to "change people's minds". This, apparently, is not to happen by their consent, and so, it is violence you wish. Preaching to the converted doesn't interest you. So get used to the idea of violence. Learn guerilla tactics. Learn subversion. Learn to whisper in the emperor's (and empress') ear(s) after gaining their trust. Exhibit in some safe art space, waiting for your enemy to arrive? You haven't even started yet, if that's where you're at.
Study psychology. Try to understand bias. Understand your own as well as the bias' of those you would "convert". Commit yourself, and be prepared to take responsibility for creating art so damaging, so thoroughly undoing, that the recipients/viewers of said art have no choice but to come to you for answers, after you've demolished their world view.
 
 
Longbody
14:13 / 25.03.13
Man, you think its easy to change people's minds? Try changing your own as a test, first. It's difficult, to say the least. Unless your subject has a "high need for cognition" they've already committed to a particular point of view and will likely do anything necessary to preserve it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Need_for_cognition
It's been asserted that those with a high "need for cognition" are more likely to think through both sides of an issue and are therefore more likely to change their minds after being presented with new information. So how can art help stimulate a person's "need for cognition"? Maybe that's a place to start.
 
  
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