So I’ve been trying to figure out aesthetically what I like and why. I keep thinking of my father, who although very creative, knows what he likes and what he doesn’t. (I’m thinking of the course reading, “On the Old Saw”)
These artists I like are bookmarked in my web browser, dog tagged in my ArtForum and various sculpture magazines.
My Dad makes gorgeous windows for his home. The same windows he could buy pre-made. He could just as easily go to Home Depot and buy pre-made windows or door molding but he chooses to painstakingly make his own. I think he is crazy! But then again I do like Craftsman homes with their amazing attention to detail and use of local resources. And I really did enjoy the Craftsman exhibit at the MFA. So I suppose I do appreciate the art of wood making.
Hmmmm? My father and I definitely have aesthetic differences. Why do we have these differences? And who died made some curators God of Aesthetics? (from this point will be: G.O.A.) Of course it depends on which art world these people are God’s of. There is surely a G.O.A. of Thomas Kinkade as sure as there is a G.O.A. of Pop-Art. Seriously, Kinkade is laughing all the way to the bank! Somebody proudly gave me a Kinkade painting a few years back. It was a very sweet gesture but I never would have hung it up in a million years. I ended up giving it to a school fund-raiser and it bought in some serious bucks for the new playground. So clearly somebody loved it!
Speaking of playgrounds (and students)….. why do some students try to please teachers? Why do my students constantly ask me “is this good?” Wait….. I just realized the have not been asking that for a very long time. That’s GREAT! Now they just say… “Look! Isn’t this cool?” That’s really important!I think that means I must be getting better and creating artists and not just students who are trying to get the right answer! Phew!
So hmmmm again. At what point do students understand aesthetics? When do students believe in their own work and understand they are artists? And at what point is it o.k. when these students grow up and make art and somebody tells them they suck? Is this kind of like American-Artist-Idol? Obviously some people on that show CAN NOT SING! But they really think they can and they arae crushed when they are told they sing like a cat in pain. Is this o.k. to do to artists? “My kids could paint that and he’s two!” Where lies the difference?
There are lots of amazing artists at Fort Point right here in Boston who are waiting tables or walking dogs to make rent. Maybe Thomas Kinkade can float them a loan. He’s just getting richer, in fact I hear you can now get his painting on blankets at Wal-mart.
