art and criticism

Bokeh triptych by Robert Castagna 2009

"...no artist needs criticism, he only needs appreciation. If he needs criticism he is no artist."

Gertrude Stein

The above statement, found while reading “An Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas” by Gertrude Stein, sums up my opinion on criticism and the art world. It’s pithy and profound meaning may come as a surprise to many artists but with a little explanation can be proved to be true.  This is not to say that I would like all art critics to cease writing for newspapers or blogs or to simply state that they love all art that they see.  On the contrary, in the larger picture, I feel they do provide a very essential dialogue that sustains the thought and idea strata that lies behind art.  But it is a comment trained toward the artist who often seeks out the opinion of others in order to sustain his or her own art work.  

The thought or idea that lies behind the art is the essential ingredient that turns a regular object into an “objet d’art”.  This idea stems directly from the artist and must by necessity come directly from him or her to create meaningful art work.  An artist is a person who trusts his own ideas.  He or she is continually working the idea, often walking the brink of oblivion, but hopefully pushing the envelope to the point where his idea takes hold via a visual creation, song, written work, video or sculpture, and then is cast out amongst the masses for effect.  I understand that there are insecure artists and artists that doubt themselves, but in the end an artist is a courageous individual who is willing to put his own concept out on the line.  

As a photographer I often grapple with the idea of, am I a photographer, an artist or both?  For all practical purposes I am both.  However essentially I am more and more an artist.  The difference lies in the thought underlying the body of work.  With the “Conceptual Art” of Sol Lewitt and others of his brood came a new slant to contemporary art as we know it.  There was once “Modern Art”, however that has now been branded and represents a past era of the art timeline.  Now we have “Contemporary Art” and this signifies the art of now and will most likely lose its holding in the future and become relegated to a bygone era.  But for now, art is heavily laden with concept, thought and ideas.  Much of it needs those written words or explanation to provide a backbone and understanding.  And often it is the obscurity of its meaning which prompts us to probe, question and find out what it is all about.  When it catches our eye for its visual or sensual impact and then rides over this with meaning that resonates we are caught in the midst of a masterpiece.  

But all masterpieces stem from the idea of an artist and for this reason as the artist is experimenting with his idea and putting it forth in reality, criticism acts as a deterent in more cases than not.  It is one thing to produce a pretty picture and quite another to bring to fruition an idea for others to see.  So the next time you walk into that contemporary art space or an exhibition of new work take a moment to reflect on the thought and idea behind the piece.  Learn to appreciate.