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Question about pretty art
4 years ago
I was curious for a very long time. Is it bad if the picture serves only a purpose of aesthetics and appeal? Of course there is meaning in prettiness itself but think about pieces, in which satisfying colors and shapes are so strong and fit together, that they overpower the 'meaning'. Because for some time I've been ingrained this narrative in my head that if it doesn't contain any message it's shallow and feeds itself into the ... 'bad art'.
From my experience whenever I do something that I want to look cool it's like *BAM* here it is (whoa flashy colors and spiky shapes)... but whenever I try to incorporate some sort of meaning or feeling it becomes challenging and only then it seems deserving and excusable to consider it as an art piece. Every time I open up an unfinished piece of mine that just pulls me in visually I think to myself: "it would be a great shame if this ends up only as an eye stimulation - a waste of a good composition or pose". I feel a very very big guilt if I can't add even the slightest context to an image I'm about to present.
Almost as if I value something less and consider it trash because it's easier to make. And I feel guilty when I look at something and appreciate its beauty if that is the only thing I can appreciate about it. Some things I do truly come from the depths of something, but others felt like I just wanted to draw something and had them finished. I don't know how it appears from your end since I'm starting to realize how limiting it is to perceive things only from a personal perspective, and people see meaning in things I didn't...
What's your take on drawing things that exist for the sole purpose of being pretty to look at? Should people proudly present them? Should it be put in scraps or remain unpublished since it doesn't do anyone any good? How do you justify uploading a piece that looks pretty?
Either way, have a good one.
EDIT: Rewritten some parts. I should've prepared better beforehand.
From my experience whenever I do something that I want to look cool it's like *BAM* here it is (whoa flashy colors and spiky shapes)... but whenever I try to incorporate some sort of meaning or feeling it becomes challenging and only then it seems deserving and excusable to consider it as an art piece. Every time I open up an unfinished piece of mine that just pulls me in visually I think to myself: "it would be a great shame if this ends up only as an eye stimulation - a waste of a good composition or pose". I feel a very very big guilt if I can't add even the slightest context to an image I'm about to present.
Almost as if I value something less and consider it trash because it's easier to make. And I feel guilty when I look at something and appreciate its beauty if that is the only thing I can appreciate about it. Some things I do truly come from the depths of something, but others felt like I just wanted to draw something and had them finished. I don't know how it appears from your end since I'm starting to realize how limiting it is to perceive things only from a personal perspective, and people see meaning in things I didn't...
What's your take on drawing things that exist for the sole purpose of being pretty to look at? Should people proudly present them? Should it be put in scraps or remain unpublished since it doesn't do anyone any good? How do you justify uploading a piece that looks pretty?
Either way, have a good one.
EDIT: Rewritten some parts. I should've prepared better beforehand.
Hope this makes sense to hear, but for me, art is an expression of ideas or concepts, and not all concepts have deeper emotion to them, sometimes ideas are just visual information or imagery.
This used to surprise me a lot, because I judged my own illustrations through "how well does this represent the idea I was going for?", and I felt disappointed when a picture I spent ages on, and felt like the visual matches the mood I was going for perfectly, didn't seem to be all that successful, and vice versa - my most favorited illustration is something I was unhappy with when I finished it, but posted anyway. In the end, I'm happy that it did catch the eye and possibly brought a smile to someone's face.
Art serves a multitude of purposes, and art has different meaning to different people. Even if you don't try to give a picture any meaning at all, people will find their own, relating to the visual through the lens of their own life experiences.
The lens I've been looking through recently (which, honestly, is making art creation much harder for me) is that the status quo isn't particularly good. So,if my art only ever focuses on beauty in a conventional way, adhering to the current status quo, I view that as a superficial and privileged position to take. And this isn't just about the image itself.
Finding beauty in something society wrongly deems ugly or unlovable, and then sharing that in art, that fulfills something that makes the world a better place.
Finding beauty in something conventional, that challenged no one, that can seem superficial, though at the very least brings one more pretty picture into the world. But at that point the substance is more about where you're producing and displaying this. A pretty flower painting in a typical gallery means little compared to producing it for a nursing home or teaching the pursuit of beauty in a Boys & Girls Club.
Really, I just want artists to think about the consequences of their own artwork, including treating it like a kind of conversation with the viewers. Who are you talking to, and why? What's the most important thing in your life? What should you do as an artist with your limited time on this earth?
Make what you think looks good, and see what sticks with other people. Experiment a bit too. Doesn't hurt.