The week has begun with a 5 hour stint today..I've reached 40 hours in total and am now I estimate about 1/4 of the way through!Over the weekend I've been reading a book about the Symbolist and Decadent art movements of 1800's. The basic premise of these movements were to shy away from painting what is in front of you, but to paint what is inside you..your vision..and often using readily identified references..symbolise the deepest nature of your dreams and desires.I realise I'm being over simplistic in this description, but I have felt emboldened to develop the way I express myself in my work.
I am continually thinking of things I want to express, but always clouded by the need to actually sell some work.It seems people aren't interested in buying into my hopes and dreams...but they do like pictures of parks and aeroplanes.Next week will be interesting as I embark on my next solo exhibition.Be prepared dear reader as I will be venting my frustration right here!
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5 comments:
It's always the same story isn't it? What sells as opposed to what you actually want to draw, business versus the sort of intrinsic reward from expressing yourself. I used to get a bit of that feeling in art class when I had to draw what the teacher wanted me to draw rather than what I wanted to do at the time. Good luck with the exhibition!
Most people I've noticed cannot relate to 'unreal'work.I noticed that whenever I put up a 'pretty painting' (like the one of the butterfly i did) I get a lot more comments than some other kind of 'surrealist' work like 'Kite runner' or 'death and life'.
I'm with you---vent away all your frustration.Just keep up your work!U are amazing.
That's exciting - the exhibition!
My aunt painting for a living for a while and she had to do the same kind of paintings over and over, dozens hundreds of them even.
It was really frustrating to limit herself to what her boss wanted her to do.
You must keep going - you have a gift and the world needs it.
The basic question is "do we as a society need art?" If we do - someone needs to do it and to do it well. If society did not need this way of reflecting, of taking a look at itself, of understanding the environment and social structure within which we all function, no-one would have been given the gift and the passion to represent it. Across generations, artists have been berated as not counting for much and therefore not paid their worth - maybe only in retrospect can we see the unique contribution they make to the ongoing ability of the species to do more than survive. Did anyone respect or pay Rembrant for the art he truly wanted to create? Or did they only pay for the pretty portraits that made them look more handsome than they were? Or Cezanne, or Da vinci or Vemeer?
Niall is an artist who has something to say, and he's only just started - only just stepping on the edges of what he wants to do and is capable of. He must continue - society now and in the future needs his reflection of itself, just as he needs to create. Sadly people don't see their purchase of a print as having a part in this process and thus the process becomes under threat. And where will society be without art - today, tomorrow, in two hundred years?
And incidently, if anyone wants to buy, just give the word - they can be posted all over the world....
It's hard to make time in my life to do art for arts sake. And, it's hard to resist the urge to just paint things that will look nice over the couch. I think I should take up the challenge as well and create something disturbing.
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