Day twenty-two: Debate.

The other night my gentleman friend and I were discussing my post from day twenty. He said that some of my thoughts sounded stuckist. I can’t remember my response, but I believe it included some disagreement. The funny thing is that I couldn’t remember what the Stuckists actually stood for. I sometimes find myself on unsure footing and when that happens my first instinct is to argue. Usually my most vehement arguments lead to me realizing that the other person is right immediately afterward. 

This overview of the Stuckist manifesto is enormously interesting to me. While I don’t wholly agree with all of it, I have to say that much of it falls in line with the expectations and ideals that I hold art to. I should probably write my own manifesto soon, or just write a response to this manifesto as a whole. Blog project!

One point we were discussing was this sentence, “Art practice has specific benchmarks of quality, experience, and knowledge.”

What I was trying to articulate was that it is possible to educate opinion and subjectivity, and in the arts that education has a deep well to pull from. I frequently speak to people who are not artists, and am frustrated by the idea that, when speaking about art, that every opinion is equally valid because all opinions of art are subjective. It may be snotty of me, but I think that my twenty plus years of art making and education make my opinion of the value of a given painting or collection of work more useful and important. I think that experience and knowledge inform what I see, and if they don’t, why have I bothered with all of this? We live in a culture where everyone claims expertise without being an expert. Shows like American Idol and the Voice for singing, Amazon for books and writers. MOOCs are the same as physical universities. Maybe I am old fashioned. I miss the days where it was more widely accepted that to make something of value takes time, focus, education, and experience. I’m not saying that there is a single right source of that accumulation of knowing, but I do feel that is important.

I would also like to reiterate that even though I am thoroughly educated and immersed in this art world, I have no idea what I’m talking about.  This blog is just as much, if not more, a learning project for me than it is for anyone else; a way to educate my opinions and to incite conversation and debate. It is an imperative to be flexible and to remain open.  Thank you for listening to me argue with myself.