Presented without comment.
Opinion?
ETA: Sorry for the blurriness of the photo.
Yeah, it’s art, but is it GOOD art?
Hard to answer that question. I’m not in front of it. I’m not seeing it as it actually is. What’s it called? What’s the subject matter? Is there even supposed to be any subject matter?
It’s a nude. Not something I’d hang on my wall, but it’s not some random splash of paint.
I’m no art expert, but this is not the sort of thing I’d expect to see on a museum wall, more like a high school art exhibit.
I agree with Cheesesteak.
Not a random splash of paint, but not art which appeals to me either.
Based on the username of the poster and the signature on the painting, I wonder if the poster isn’t looking for critique of his own art.
It’s bad art IMO. I’ve seen worse from art school graduates though, not much worse.
I remember having to debate the question “What is Art?” countless times over the course of my Art degree, and it got progressively less fun each time the question came up. It always ended up at exactly the same point: sure, anything you want to apply the label to is art. Who’s to say it’s not? For the past century there haven’t really been any universal theories about art that everyone can agree on. Even the question “Is it good Art?” doesn’t really answer anything, given that a random selection of three people will generally yield seven different definitions of what constitutes ‘good’ art.
I tend to think about art in pretty utilitarian terms, now. A piece of art is ‘good’ if it’s suited to a specific purpose. Meant for hanging on a living room wall? Super, make it pretty and/or interesting. Hanging on a corporate office wall? Great, make it decorative and inoffensive. Taking up space in a white-walled public gallery? Fine, make it whatever the hell you please (but bonus points for every person that walks by and says “This is Art?” ).
Edit: Oh, and as for the linked picture, in the words of that horse on Ren & Stimpy: “Well sir, I don’t like it.”
Todd (I may call you that, right?),
I think it’s ok. The watercolor technique is coming along, the composition lacks real direction aside from the circular surround so it has a kind of “Matisse on a hangover” feel. I think you should decide whether you want to do figural work and head in that direction or decide that you want to purposefully do abstract work and head in that direction. Your figures need work-- learn to do figures and THEN you can distort them with intent and foresight. The brushwork is also a bit “wrong” for watercolor-- it has a oil/acryllic jagged harshness that is foreign to the medium-- like it’s emulating Expressionist oils but watercolor isn’t capable of that particular . . . idiom.
My two cents.
Of course you can.
A bit of history on this:
A week ago, I was in a kind of dark place concerning my thoughts on women. I posted an IMHO thread about that, and oddly enough, my paintings. A number of Dopers advised me to paint my pain, predicting that I’d produce my best work ever. So I decided to do just that. I had no direction or goal with it, I just painted my feelings. Some might call it selfish and self-indulgent. Some might call it therapy.
I call it a waste of paper. But thanks for the input. I’m not terribly proud of it.
I would agree with capybara, that watercolor is not really the strongest medium for abstract splash-o-color pieces. It usually just ends up looking like poster paints, which is an unfortunate use of good watercolor materials. The whole point of the whorls of color and stuff was to focus the viewer on the physicality of the materials, which is why oil works best for that. Oil paints are just beautiful; they glisten and radiate the color, if done well, and the textures can be interesting enough to warrant close examination. Watercolors don’t have that quality so much, and tend to look flat and kind of boring without the illusionistic and representational hooks to draw the eye into the surface.
There is the beginnings of artistic talent shown, but little training. capybara’s right, the artist needs to improve composition and take a figure drawing class.
I don’t think it’s necessarily pain that makes for great art; rather that pain can provide a form of inspiration for great artists. Art therapy, however, is good stuff and I think you should continue to paint your feelings even if it won’t gain you a spot on a wall in a gallery.
You know how the Idol judges talk about the ‘it’ factor that people need to be stars? Same goes with art; there’s something to good art that you got or you don’t have. I say this sadly; I have no hope of ever being an artist though when I was younger I had some hopes of same.
Ok, sorry, three posts in ten minutes, but tdn, I might have some suggestions how to ‘paint your pain’ if you’d like to hear them. It’s basically my own approach for doing the same. You might not come out with anything brilliant (I usually didn’t), but you can surprise yourself sometimes.
First of all, get a big surface. I don’t know how you usually work, but I’m talking as big as you can manage. At least 4 feet on a side. Quality of materials doesn’t matter, it can be butcher’s paper or old wallpaper or anything you can get that size, really.
Then, take out your frustration at the drawing stage. Use charcoal, and just scribble to your heart’s content. Make some BIG marks, and throw your shoulder in them. Break a sweat. Once you’ve filled that page, start working smaller. Repetitive strokes work well, I find, cross-hatching and such, but then I’m a little OCD. As you go along, smudge, rub, make as much of a mess on that page as you can. Pick out forms as you see them, sort of like automatic writing. Draw into the layers of charcoal with your fingers; claw that damn page!
Then leave it alone for a day or so. After that, break out the gesso and india ink. Start picking out forms or shapes that you see in the scribbles and go over them with ink or gesso to reduce the noise. It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t stick at first for the dust, just keep going. A limited palette is key here, you don’t want to get distracted with color just yet. You just want to work out some major forms and mold your scribbles into some kind of composition.
If it doesn’t cooperate, keep working over the same areas until that happens. Don’t waste good color on it until you’re happy with the surface, though. Once you think you have something, start coloring with transparent washes to differentiate areas and objects further. The whole thing shouldn’t take more than a week, and your goal is to not stop worrying that piece of paper until you can look at it and go “Damn… where did that come from?”. If you really like the result, you can always redo it on better materials with more polish, but if in the end you hate it, no biggie. Just tear it down and throw it away.
Ack, if I would have known it was yours I probably would have been less flippant about it. Sorry if that came off rude.
Well, with no formal training it’s pretty good, if you’re just faking it-- you might have some natural potential to work with, or a good eye at least.
Absolutely. That’s a great idea!
Don’t worry about it. I wasn’t fishing for compliments. I wanted honest opinions and got them. Raw emo + alcohol - technique = the piece of shit you see here.
The thing is, I wasn’t going for beautiful. I was going for ugly.
And as far as therapy goes, it wasn’t all that effective.
I like it. It looks like she’s being swept away or eaten by a monster or something. I don’t know if that’s what you were going for, but that’s art- everyone who looks at it will see something different. And if it was painted by a drunk monkey, that’s one talented monkey.
I quite like it. I’m not sure if I’d hang it on my wall, but it makes me think - I’m in a cave and there’s a naked female reclining outside, or maybe I’m outside the cave - in the dark, and the naked female is in the brightly-firelit interior - each of these impressions generates its own, quite different emotion, and the contrast/conflict between those two feelings/emotions is quite enjoyable too.
It makes me think, and it evokes feeling in me, so in that respect, it easily fits my definition of ‘good art’. So, even if it was painted by a drunk monkey, it works for me.
To preserve just a hint of the little reputation I have, I posted some of my better works to this board, and got a decent response. One poster even asked if I was showing in any galleries. That’s a nice compliment, considering that I’ve been at it for less than two years.