art between creation and showcase

This is a rough one…honestly. It’s been in the back of my mind for years and years, sometimes surfacing, other times simply marinating as a thought, weighing feelings, thoughts and gathered information. I have a very active brain - both a gift and a curse - and today I was rambling on yet again about the meaning and purpose of art.

Down to it’s core, art is truth. Anything beyond that is bullshit. And that is the most basic and true statement that I see as a definition of art. It isn’t truth, in the universal sense, like math or physics, etcetera. It is a personal truth, one which cannot be defined universally. And the pursuit of art is the pursuit of one’s truth, such as it’s felt, seen and lived. I’d say art is the answer to the burning question “What is the meaning of life?” for those who stumble upon this path.

Any given day at any given moment there’s so many of us…you know, humans. So many of us, going through the same bullshit routine more or less, seeing the same things, sharing the same space and what have you…but do we feel the same? Do we think the same? Are we sharing the same truth? Probably not…in some manner probably yes. But these thoughts and feelings are filtered by each individual. Maybe they start off the same…who knows. But maybe they get dismissed, maybe they get perverted, maybe they continue in their purest form and that is how we end up with completely different versions of the same thing. One’s truth is part outside event, part inner vision and part reaction to outside events and inner visions. So creating will always demand your true expression of everything I just said. And every piece of art that you create will be closer or further away from that truth, which will in turn bring it’s own set of disappointments and satisfactions.

I think it is important to separate the pursuit of truth=art and craftsmanship. They are very different in what they set to achieve, which means they are very different in what they are. And you cannot convince me otherwise. The line between the two however…I’m not the one to define it. Sometimes it is a clear one, other times it is blurry at best. And sometimes they are in perfect symbiosis and that’s quite alright. Maybe the people who achieve that are the most satisfied, we should ask them.

The thing that’s dawned on me though, an artist is driven by this pursuit. It is demanded of him, by him. It is a strong force that will not ever let go. Whether you believe we are souls or we are defined by our brains, this self is relentless and will not simply go away. Our truth must be manifested one way or another! You become more or less a slave of your truth and obsessions. And so any creative act that is driven by this boil, is in fact a pursuit of your personal truth, a pursuit of art. And you are your own judge and executioner. Nobody knows your truth better than you. You might end up loving the result or hating it, if the act itself was truthful, does the result matter? You are probably the only one who can say if it matters or not. For me, that’s what it’s all about. Being as close to the truth as possible. If I manage to do that as best I can, if I can reach a level of self consciousness and expression that is pure as it can be, without embellishments, without active thought of how it is perceived, that is it, that is art.

Beyond this pure form that I just described, we stare at the aesthetic side of things, and that’s when the craftsmanship has a more defined role, the execution of it all. It is of course a personal choice of how defined you want your art to be, how polished, how refined and so on, you might take pride in this aspect, or you might totally disregard it. But the execution of an artwork sometimes can make it or break it and that is something worth thinking about from time to time. And I think this is where people actually look when judging an artwork, for the most part. They cannot possibly judge it from it’s pure form point of view, so they judge the craftmanship, a lot of times probably being away from the art itself. For me, it is a lot simpler. I think art is felt or not. Art is in its very nature subjective, so it keeps it’s essence when consumed as well. So if I see something and it hits me, and I just get it, feel it or whatever then it is for me, and I appreciate that art’s existence. If I see something, and I feel nothing, then it’s not for me. And there are times when I only see craft(be it great or poor) and no art, and there are times when the work doesn’t do it for me, but I can appreciate it’s artistic value, because I understand the message, appreciate the craft, but the truth of it is not in sync with my own.

And no matter which of the above situations you might find yourself in, you face your artwork as it is done, in a state of absolute nakedness and vulnerability…and you ask yourself, now what? Now you’re ready to face other demons probably, or perhaps you need a break because you are exhausted, but what about the piece? What to do with that fucking piece? Who should see it and why? Does it serve a greater purpose if it’s seen by anyone? Or did it reach it’s purpose by simply existing? The complexity of this subject is so vast, that you could write a whole book about it. There are so many past examples that I could dissect, real living examples I learned about from art history, that I could build my arguments entirely from that, but I won’t. This is not an essay nor a study, this is me. And I want to express just how it is now, in the current state of the world and the current state of existing.

There is soooo much fucking “content”, it is exhausting. It used to be, you had to actually put some effort in to learn about the existence of an artist and his work. Maybe a happy accident, find a book in a library, learn about it digging through the entirety of google (yes, it used to be about many other pages, not just the first one and without ads), hear it from someone, going to an exhibition, that kind of stuff. I always liked art books to be honest. Ever since I was a young one, I found it to be the most effective way to consume visual art. Because it offered you a chance to sit in silence, or listening to your favorite music, sitting in whatever - chair, couch, etc. and just be you with the work you were discovering…personal, you know? Actually getting immersed in it’s truth and actually taking in the concepts, ideas, moods, learning about the craft, all of the great things that make art the great beautiful thing that it is. I still prefer art books to anything. It’s like a private journey that you take with a stranger that understands you. And nothing beats that. Exhibitions can be nice…not quite as personal though. They will never provide the same level of depth and freedom of exploring. It is a decent way to support an artist you like, or discover artists you didn’t know about, that’s for sure. Although I live in a country where there is not a big fuss about art exhibitions, and when there was I was highly disappointed. But that’s another story.

Now it’s all about finger fucking your phone. And that’s where all the art goes, in an endless doom scroll of finger fucking, an endless black hole that eats your brain through a tiny screen. And everybody just sits back and joins in feeding the abysmal machine. We’ve let social media take over so many aspects of our lives that it is in control of everything and I find it absolutely disgusting and depressing. And it seems like you only have 2 options, either join the clownery or “not exist”. But looking through all the layers, and speaking strictly from an artistic point of view, what all of this has done was to homogenize everything. There’s probably thousands and thousands of images being shared every day, that the more you look the more everything looks the same. It’s the same fucking bullshit over and over and over…it isn’t about discovering anymore, it’s all about feeding the algorithm, getting those likes and followers and feeding your brain it’s daily dose of garbage. All …through…a…fucking…PHONE…SCREEN! How are people ok with this? I will never understand. Imagine actually choosing to reduce your work, to a god damn thumbnail that people scroll over on a stupid phone. I think of the feeling of discovering a great print photo, noticing the greys, the grain, the feel of the paper, the texture, the fucking size…I remember pushing prints to bigger and bigger sizes, having something close to majestic to look at. Why have all that when I can just look 1 sec through a 5x5 cm thumbnail on instagram? Evolution.

The saddest part is that it has become just a fucking popularity contest. It is not about the work anymore, it is not about expressing anything anymore, it is not about connections or sharing anything real, it is all about doing what is expected of you to gain numbers. Which is downright pathetic. But that’s the new norm. So in this context, how is displaying any work actually relevant to anything? Does winning the popularity contest help in spreading anything you believe in, or is what you believe in simply winning? And if you don’t make all the efforts, and you simply put it out there, and you don’t win anything, is that what holds the worth of your work? And if you don’t put anything anywhere, and you don’t show anything to anyone, is your work less important or did it achieve it’s purpose? I honestly don’t know the answer…but I do know an artist will most likely want to enjoy doing his work and doing more of it than less of it. That means success and popularity will probably help in achieving that. I also know if you truly care about the art most than anything, there’s a high chance you have to accept living in obscurity and not enjoying success and popularity, probably not enjoying any embrace of your work. Which will in turn alienate you and feel imprisoned by this pursuit. It is a reality, and I often wonder if any of it is worth it.

Ignoring all the aspects of modern showcasing, the truth is, sharing something you created, if it’s honest and true, will not feel great. It will make you vulnerable, uneasy, like you would step naked in front of a bunch of people so they can judge you for your sins. How is this ever helpful? Do they have any rights for that judgment? Most likely no. Do they hold any truth to yours? Probably not. You would hope they would, right? You would hope that from all that crowd, someone would take a look and hover for a few seconds…and they’d get it. And that would maybe make it worth it. After all the beauty of art is in discovering it. That would not be possible if it wasn’t shared. But that doesn’t mean you have to. In a lot of ways, art is expressing unspeakable things. It’s doing something with all the thoughts, moods and feelings that you cannot define, cannot speak about, that hold you at gunpoint until you burst. And doing something about it helps you not burst. Do people deserve that kind of truth and vulnerability? Most probably don’t. And yet, I am writing this as I’m enjoying my favorite art form: music. And it’s so damn beautiful to listen to something that feels so familiar although it’s done by people you never met, and it makes me think it would be a damn shame not to have that. And to think there’s people out there that want to replace all of this with “A.I.”…it’s damn tricky. Art is at some very twisted crossroads. And a lot of times I wonder if it’s any good to simply create anything. You could hold everything in, and not bother expressing any of it. Is being a prisoner of your passions and obsessions worth it? Or would it be better to break free of everything and not give it another thought?