What is Art?

Everyone  I  know  has a different  definition.  I  think that we all agree that like pornography  we know  it when we see it.  The Art that I  practice  is called  painting.  My definition  is the  practice  of communicating  using smears of pigment  on a surface.  From the concept  through  the execution  of  the  final product  the Art is made by the  artist.  I  do not consider  retouched  photography capital A art, rather I see photography as a craft.

Before  every photographer jumps  on me, including  my beautiful  wife, there  is  Art in photography, I'm  not a practitioner.  Photographs have tremendous impact, consider their use in social media and their dominance in modern teaching.  Photographs are used by painters.  Some  mount  their  tablet or monitor so it can be used while  painting.  I do that.  When some artists project  the photo on to the canvas and paint the canvas using the projection as a template, I  think that's  cheating.  Penn and Teller produced a wonderful movie, Tim's Vermer.  Tim researched Vermeer and recreated Vermeer's camera obscura.  Still, it's cheating.

My Art teacher  in college  taught  me to take a visual concept and define it emphasizing  its essence, visual  hook.  He then asked  us to create  a representation  of that concept.  Once recorded, at that point in my life  sketched on the  canvas with  charcoal, I  could begin  abstracting the piece.  His assignment  was to go through  seven iterations  of abstraction, completing each iteration  and having a common thread.  Consider  George  Braques' cubist Still life with bottles and glasses.  The initial  concept  could be a realistic  depicting the still life, the first  iteration flattening  the forefront  of  the  concept, the next iteration  flattening  the next dimension and so forth  until completing  the  assignment.

This copy of George Braque still life, named above, is from Wikimedia Commons.

Art, capital A art is a product created by the artist from concept to conclusion.  Capital A art is recognized by taste makers as Art.  More on this idea in a later post, read Kurt Vonnegut.  Small a art is the craft version.  With both versions, the artist names the process Art, it's art because I say it's art.  Finally, there is a a second measure of the product the expertise or adroitness of construction.  While cruising around the Internet, I read a discussion of Warhol's construction methods for his exhibit of the Brillo boxes. Warhol exceeded the quality of the original box.  It is this expertise, attention to detail (OK OCD) that is another measure of the Art.  Illustrators excel at the technical details and their mastery of materials is breathtaking.

Introduction

I  am an avid  follower of blogs, they are intimate  windows.  Most of  the  blogs I  follow  are Art related.  I prefer blogs written  by practicing  artists; this touches on one of my beliefs.

I retired  from teaching  Science  in 2010 and dedicated  my efforts  to re-teaching  myself  the job of  Art.  My first  degree was BA in Secondary Art Education  in 1971.  Life intervened  preventing  me from daily  practice and without daily practice artistic pursuits do not go far.  Now that  my children  are adults  and my wife and I  are in a comfortable  circumstance, I  can continue  my practice.

You, dear readers, will find me methodical  in my pursuit of  information  for my practice.  It's  my plan to share my information  with you.  However, my practice  is only concerned  with  water media and occasional  forays  into pencil and metalpoint.  Two things about oil painting, some of my friends are oil painters and it smells.

I was trained  in  the  1970s  where Abstract  Expression  held sway in Art instruction.  My college  took this to mean that  anything  goes as far as the picture  elements  and of course, realistic  drawing  was not encouraged and not taught. One instructor stood out, a designer from Africa who suggested a methodology for exploring the creation of the picture.  Looking  back, the freedom of this curriculum felt wonderful but the quality of the instruction left me unprepared for Art in the world.  

I  started  my re-training  in 2008 with evening  sessions  at various  figure  study open sessions in Chicago.  In 2010, I  joined  the Pallet and  Chisel and continued my practice  every Monday, Tuesday  and Friday, leaving the  rest of the  days to do my family  duties  and painting on my own.  I paint about  30 hours per week.  I believe  that  mastery of the human  figure  and face are imperative  for all artists.  However, I   am not a figure  or portrait  artist; my path is to the abstract  side of  two dimensional representation in Art.

Some observations, I like writing done by the person doing the job, not by a critic.  I work in a small studio in my home, so smelly and messy things do not happen.  Learning happens when you commit to the task, you cannot learn from a book or person telling  you  what to do.  Finally, I've noticed as people get older and retire, they'll change their name.  I did, my name is michael.  This is the spelling I prefer.  Incidentally, my profile picture is one of my self portraits.  I make one every six months to chart my technique.