Fountain, Marcel Duchamp 1917 (signed R Mutt). Arguably one of the most important and influential artworks of the twentieth century.
Would you go to the a lawyer to buy lipstick or the builders merchant to have a swim? Would you make an appointment with your doctor to get your lawn mowed or phone a plumber to buy toilet paper? Of course you wouldn’t – that would be illogical and stupid!
Hopefully though, if you want a creative solution or something original you will go to an artist!
We live in a largely designed environment. Look around you – someone has designed just about everything you see. That someone spent years studying art and design.
My point – anyone who has studied art and design knows that it is a lifelong quest to hone your skills. Artists don’t retire, they just get better. Design, composition, value, anatomy, drawing, understanding materials, colour theory, art history etc are all huge subjects before you even consider originality and saleability. Yet everyone seems to think they know about art!
I blame us artists for not valuing our skills more!
Creatives deserve as much respect as an accountant, a business manager, a scientist or any other professional and in a world that desperately needs solutions creative thinkers are more essential than ever!
It’s so easy to look at art and say ‘I like it’ or ‘I don’t like it!’ We all have an opinion! As Marcel Duchamp said: ‘Not everyone is an artist but everyone is a fucking critic.’ To critics I say ‘See what happens when you face your ‘self’ to create something out of nothing and then be consistently creative year after year!’
Art is not an easy choice, something for the non-academic or simply ‘mad’, a word thrown at artists all the time!
The job of an artist is to combine intellect with intuition to create something new.
I’ll say it again – art work is a combination of using your intellect and your intuition whilst being in tune with the Zeitgeist or even better creating the Zeitgeist!
As Einstein said ‘Creativity is intelligence having fun!’
Love Kirsten
PS – A cautionary warning to creatives from a dear friend, lifelong artist and furniture maker – Be careful who you show your art to whilst in the process of conceiving and creating it it for “Fools and bairns should not see things half done!” Proverb
‘A Quiet Conversation 2022’ hanging on my studio wall.
www.kirstenharrisart.com