The young Hebrew David hoists the head of the Philistine Goliath by Gustave Doré (1832-1883) off Wikipedia
Or does it still lurk among us? Sorry not to have posted for so long on the topic. After a slew of studio visits, I’m happy to say that we’re getting there, making progress. However, I also must report that there are huge, huge misconceptions harbored by artists on the topic of this itty-bitty, often-no-more-than-350-word foe. First off, artists need to know that words aren’t their foe at all—but their friend (if they wield their pen-swords right). And secondly, they need to do a little less naval gazing and a little more…READing.
That’s right: I’m meeting artists who just aren’t reading enough; books (good books), poetry, theory, criticism. And what’s more, they’re not reading critically. They think that because Joe Blow Critic wrote something that “sounds” like good writing, that he must know what he’s talking about when it comes to the actual art. Not so. If you read with a pen in your hand, and really asked yourself if one thought logically followed another in said critique, that you’d find some logical gaps.
Assignment: Read all the art publications you usually read in a week—and then some—with a pen in your hand at all times. Make notes in the margins. Go see the shows that the writer is talking about, if you can.
Ask yourself: Can I (with some hard work) do better?
They say the tongue is mightier than the sword.
Believe it.
Is the foe of artist-statement confusion vanquished?
The young Hebrew David hoists the head of the Philistine Goliath by Gustave Doré (1832-1883) off Wikipedia
Or does it still lurk among us? Sorry not to have posted for so long on the topic. After a slew of studio visits, I’m happy to say that we’re getting there, making progress. However, I also must report that there are huge, huge misconceptions harbored by artists on the topic of this itty-bitty, often-no-more-than-350-word foe. First off, artists need to know that words aren’t their foe at all—but their friend (if they wield their pen-swords right). And secondly, they need to do a little less naval gazing and a little more…READing.
That’s right: I’m meeting artists who just aren’t reading enough; books (good books), poetry, theory, criticism. And what’s more, they’re not reading critically. They think that because Joe Blow Critic wrote something that “sounds” like good writing, that he must know what he’s talking about when it comes to the actual art. Not so. If you read with a pen in your hand, and really asked yourself if one thought logically followed another in said critique, that you’d find some logical gaps.
Assignment: Read all the art publications you usually read in a week—and then some—with a pen in your hand at all times. Make notes in the margins. Go see the shows that the writer is talking about, if you can.
Ask yourself: Can I (with some hard work) do better?
They say the tongue is mightier than the sword.
Believe it.