i have been making pictures for, relative to my age, a long time. i have been studying photography at the college level for four years. four years before that, i started taking pictures seriously, scanning my 4 x 6 drugstore prints from film and showing them to people online. i have always loved the idea of making art and receiving feedback. i have been searching since i was fourteen years old for a place where i felt i fit in, a part of a community, online, in high school art classes and clubs, at a private college for art, and in a public university. i've had some good experiences, but mostly disappointments. i've known some people who seem as passionate about this as i am, but few. thursday, during my final critique in advanced 1, something in me finally snapped.
i know that i have never really fit in, that my work has been strange and while i have gained fans and followers, i have never had close friends in photography or a sense of community among artists. but thursday i realized that, ever since transferring into this program a year and a half ago, i have felt judged and sometimes attacked in almost every critique. thursday, my critique group members did not even address me as though i were in the room, and this was my work they were talking about.
it's not as though i can't take a rough critique. i am well aware that, working with dead animals and sometimes evasive, hard-to-access meanings, my work will not always be praised. this is not about needing to have "thicker skin;" it's not even as though thursday's critique was rough. comments were despondent, un-concrete, and just negative in energy. my critique thursday made me feel a way i have ever felt before, in eight years of actively making pictures. the thought of picking up my camera, juicy brand new lens and all, actually makes me sick. i have never, ever felt that before, and so i know that now, something is very, very wrong.
after thursday's critique, i seriously considered deactivating this blog and removing my portfolio website. &because my critique group changes little next semester when i take advanced 2, i am still considering graduating with a BA instead of a BFA so that i will not have to take advanced 2 or thesis in the fall. honestly, i know i will still make work, regardless of what "motivation" or who is around me. i feel like i need to be supported (given constructive input) or on my own, not brought down by a group of people with only negative, nonconstructive comments.
i want to start a discussion. if you can separate the following questions from my personal anecdote above and think about these questions in regard to your own experiences, i urge you to do so for the sake of the progression of discussion.
why do so many creative people feel that, in order to succeed, someone else has to fail?
why do so many students in art programs seem to resent those eager and excited to learn, share, and succeed, and want to bring them down?
why are those with passion and talent regarded as a threat instead of an inspiration to those who don't yet have style or conceptual interest?
what is it people want to get out of art-making if not trust, honesty, input, and community?
why is, "[the industry is] cutthroat" an acceptable excuse to "complaints" about a lack of a strong art community? leaving aside commercial artists who compete for jobs, why is it outrageous to consider other fine artists teammates instead of competition?
why would a person pay for an education in an art program and only offer and accept apathy from the peers and instructors whose input they are essentially paying for?
i will probably be adding to this post as time passes &as a think about whether or not i want to continue making art publicly.
i am open to responses &conversation here, in my email, on facebook, wherever.
(Forgive my lack of eloquence here, I am at work and quite exhausted.)
ReplyDeleteAs far as your first three questions go: that is unfortunately human nature (maybe more so in our country than in others, I can't be certain). If you look at those actions within, say, a snobby heartless corporation, you wouldn't be surprised to see it there. You know that shitty saying, "it's a dog-eat-dog world?" It's everywhere. From banking to retail to politics to art.
But you know what I think of those people? I think that they're doing whatever it is they're doing for the wrong reasons. I think they must not love what they're doing, because if they did, then that love would be enough, and they would focus more on their own work and wouldn't care so much about tearing down what everyone else was doing.
why do so many creative people feel that, in order to succeed, someone else has to fail?
ReplyDeleteI think that this is actually a result of competitive culture, not so much artistic culture. Realistically, we have been raised to think that there is only one position at a firm, only so many slots in a college course, etc, and that has trained us into this "i have to be better than the people i'm competing with" mindset. This is actually a really great thing, as it keeps us accountable to our commitment to some sort artistic progress, but unfortunately instills in us this "fake it until you make it" mentality that is destroying creative culture nowadays.
I think because art students are afraid to be "learning," they find it difficult to accept criticism because they WANT to be good, but have a hard time learning how to accept that they are not "there yet." The problem comes in when they are put in group setting, and are consistently striving for "best in the class." they become so focused with appearing like they've "arrived" that they forget that vulnerability is the only way that artists' can really grow. Then, because their art is stagnant (and because they may or may not refuse to address it), their next move is to devalue the "competition" in an attempt to make what they have look better by association.
When i was in a band i used to say that other bands sucked in order to make my band seem better. the problem is that ever other band was doing that as well, so the entire music scene was just a hate vortex, and people were afraid TRY anything. Why would anyone want to make music if they would be mocked instantaneously? The problem with devaluing art is that it limits the artists around us, but also ourselves because we are not pushed to be better.
It's a damn shame.
why do so many students in art programs seem to resent those eager and excited to learn, share, and succeed, and want to bring them down?
Speaking purely subjectively, i think that this is a foundational issue with self-loathing. We are all raised with an inherent pressure to "make something of ourselves," so when we don't push ourselves we become defensive of our stagnant lifestyle because we loathe our lack of motivation. Motivation, drive, and goals are all sexy traits of healthy people.
I think deep down everyone wants to be successful, but it's like going to the gym or changing your diet. It's not "cool" to eat healthily, or take care of our bodies; it's "cool" to stay up and party. But calling someone a "health nut" or trying to downplay the inherent good of setting & achieving goals only achieves one thing: complacency. It might hurt the motivated person in the short run, but in the grand scheme of things, they are fit, healthy, and will age better than the person who is mocking them.
With that metaphor in mind, The people that work until 4am every night are not "cool." In fact, in most societal constructs, they are crazy. but they are the people that that will have higher success, they are well aware of trends & timeless art, and their art will age better than the people mocking them.
It's not rocket science; it's p90x. if you diet and exercise you will look and feel good. if you stay on your couch and make fun of people trying things, you will stay on your couch.
why are those with passion and talent regarded as a threat instead of an inspiration to those who don't yet have style or conceptual interest?
ReplyDeleteThis is essentially the same question as the one before it; Students want to be the best, but few are able to recognize the intense conceptualization that "good" art requires. I'm gonna go on a limb and say that most undergrad students are imitating work from artists they enjoy, so when they see "good" (read: well-created or technically sound) art that they don't understand, their brains frizz out because they are unable to grasp how something that is not aesthetically pleasing to them could be better. Then, instead of offering any input they fall into "it sucks" and retreat back into their comfort zone.
It's like music. Some music is POP music and it's relevance is incredibly widespread and undeniable, and some music is niche music.
When i was younger, when someone would ask "what do you think this band," if i was unfamiliar with the band i would say "they suck," out of fear of not being cool, and also because i wanted to seem familiar and better than whatever music was out there. The bummer with this is that i alienated my friends and kept myself from getting to see some amazing artists in tiny venues before they started selling out the fillmore. No one suffered but me.
As i've gotten older, i can now confidently say "i don't know of them," but more importantly i can say "i don't like them, but i respect them." It is a special understanding in life to recognize art that you don't understand and say "that's not my cup of tea, but damn it if they don't do it well."
what is it people want to get out of art-making if not trust, honesty, input, and community?
I think the real question is what do STUDENTS hope to get out of CLASSWORK, if not trust, honesty, input, and community?
And the answer is an A. That's it.
Sadly, You are at the mercy of the students you are critiquing with. Your community isn't there because they WANT to be, they are there because they HAVE to be. So i wouldn't tear down the entire art community from a sample group of unmotivated students. As a member of an artist-led critique group, i've seen magic when a community comes together.
As far addressing honesty & trust, From what i've seen, the majority of art students take critiques very personally. Instead of looking to their peers for support, tough love, and constructive input, the course becomes about "who's the best in the class," and critiques quickly turn into a "my work vs yours" debate. It is easy to de-validate the input of a fellow student when that particular student's work is lackluster.
And speaking on community, the problem with teacher-led critique is that if the teacher is doing a poor job facilitating constructive input, the class soon devolves into "i don't like it" and "it's bad." Instead of focusing on WHY something is inaccessible, and how to correct that (if correction is even appropriate) the critiques become awkward and lazy. Therein lies the problem with forced-critique. Most students will be satisfied to get an A; few students actually want to improve.
**why do so many creative people feel that, in order to succeed, someone else has to fail?
ReplyDeleteThis has been drilled into students heads since they started taking their first studio courses. Someone elses work is always going to be better than yours and in order for you to succeed, do whatever it takes to triumph over your peers.
**why do so many students in art programs seem to resent those eager and excited to learn, share, and succeed, and want to bring them down?
this is my biggest complaint in my department (graphic design + printmaking). The kids who are really excited about what they do and are pumped to get their work out there and show people are few and far between. The large majority of people in my department make mediocre work and are not excited about what they do. Some of them do not show up to class, come unprepared (waisting not only the teachers time, but my time as well) with sub-par work (and expect to get an honest critique.) these students expect to get a degree, in most chances a BFA, but don’t work towards it and still expect to earn it and get a job somewhere. The problem with this however, is when I go to class 100% of the time, with work I am proud of, and have spent weeks of my time on, instead of throwing it together the night before, and receive negative and useless critiques from people who 1. Aren’t excited about their work and 2. Whose work is shit, it makes me angry. They talk about my work as if they are snipers about to shoot me down. Are they jealous ofmy work? Or my passion about the craft and process? I don’t know.
**why are those with passion and talent regarded as a threat instead of an inspiration to those who don't yet have style or conceptual interest?
I can only, honestly, account this to partial envy. 95% of your time in art school is spent contemplating what your work means, and what you get out of it, and developing your own personal “style”. It’s too easy for these people to be negative about it then working hard and stepping away from google images and bumping someone elses styling.
**what is it people want to get out of art-making if not trust, honesty, input, and community?
Those that are truly passionate about their craft are few and far between. So many people in the art world are money driven and want to produce work that is just “okay”, that doesn’t need revisements. They aren’t willing to work for a polished, final product so they settle on things that are mediocre. Honest and input is invaluable and people too often use class crits as a way to attack someones work and offer no constructive advice, and vocally use this as a means to further push their work and something stronger or more apparent.