Painting After Art is Dead

Two Coats of Paint recently posted an article on “negative criticism” that was a response to an article of similar name by Sean Tatol in The Point. There are several good takes in the Two Coats article (Laurie goes straight to the point by noting that Galleries aren’t going to advertise in art rags that criticize their stable of talent) and I encourage you all to read (or use the “listen” option) Tatol’s article in The Point. In particular, this bit stood out to me:

“Once we make any judgment at all we are aspiring to be objective, or at least correct, to the best of our knowledge. This objectivity may not be fully achievable, but if we are to think critically, or at all, the attempt is necessary. It is plainly impossible to approach the world without making judgments: anything from choosing friends you can trust to picking out a ripe orange requires a differentiation of qualities we learn to recognize through experience. Art and media are no different. “

Tatol

I prefer the word “evaluation” to judgement, although denotatively they are apparently completely synonymous. For me the latter (culturally) implies an additional step which can be a bit more fraught. Said differently, I’d personally rather be described as “evaluating” than “being judge-y” fwiw.

I’ve since been thinking about the ideas in Mr Tatol’s piece in the context of another, recent article by Adrienne LaFrance, executive editor at the Atlantic. In Defense of Humanity is a short essay (link is a pdf) on the moment in which we find ourselves. Specifically Ms LaFrance points at the thing- a precipice looking onto a future where AI can and will shape an increasing amount of our lives. She points towards the transcendentalist movement as a way of anchoring readers to the idea that there was (is?) a theory of culture that elevates and centers a life of evaluation.

A future in which overconfident machines seem to hold the answers to all of life’s cosmic questions is not only dangerously misguided, but takes away that which makes us human. In an age of anger, and snap reactions, and seemingly all-knowing AI, we should put more emphasis on contemplation as a way of being.

LaFrance

“More emphasis on contemplation” is clearly what caught this author’s eye. And while I sense that Ms LaFrance would probably agree that contemplation of a painting has similar value personally and culturally she’s clearly referring to thinking- the contemplation of a language-based idea.

To finish loosely tying the two articles together here*, I’m seeing two distinct authors pointing, in the same cultural moment, to the relevance and in fact value of contemplation and evaluation. I would go further and say that it sure seems like they would agree that looking at Art has a cultural importance today that perhaps it hasn’t had in some time and for which we should be grateful (*it is for you, the reader of this article, to chose- or chose not to- evaluate this idea on its merits though).

So I’m back at my job. Which is work- an “activity that a person engages in regularly to earn a livelihood.” It’s more than that for me, and in the context of having a sabbatical and experiencing a care-free, easily enjoyable life, I find I still feel that way. I actually want to feel the excitement about my profession in the way it did for the decade+ when I didn’t make art work. There’s a lot of work left to do around decarbonization and electrification- work worth doing.

Consequently, there is less work- “something produced by the exercise of creative talent or expenditure of creative effort : artistic production“- as a result of less work- “activity in which one exerts strength or faculties to do or perform something“- taking place in my studio. This is relative to the sabbatical I just completed though (IE, partly this is time issue). And you know what? I’m just fine. Really. So what if I don’t enough fresh content to post on Instagram 5-6 times per week (btw, I decided before this lull that I should drop to 3 posts every Sunday, and it was a relief!). So what if I don’t “have the energy” to head into the studio- I also don’t have an upcoming solo exhibit or a gallery haranguing me for inventory. Why force myself to make things because… yeah, I can’t finish the sentence either. Isn’t work that bursts out due to the creative fire better anyway? I’m still doing things to make community, thinking of ideas for shows, and working on the beginnings of my very first strategic plan for how to accomplish what I want to over the next couple of years (“yes” figuring out what I want is the first and perhaps hardest part).

I like things that work- “produce a desired effect or result“. I don’t think I’m alone, as an artist, in holding that sentiment. And it can mean a number of things- trying to select a word to focus my bi-monthly updates (yes, now that sabbatical is over I won’t be doing them weekly any more) “works”; doing a bunch of paintings over sabbatical to see what “works” works; and I’ve realized, or remembered really*, that there are simple strategies to plan out studio sessions that can harness creativity in a way that works to generate more work with less work.

*when I was making hard-edge op-art in the early 2000s, I took a very methodical approach to the paintings that allowed me to be super productive in 15-20 minute chunks (I was a stay-at-home dad at the time).