Art Engages the World

Here are some thoughts of mine based on a conversation last night...

I once asked an 'art star' I was studying under the question: If you make art, but never show it to anyone, are you still an artist? I thought her answer would be 'Yes' but her answer was 'No', to which I was very surprised.

To me, being an artist, has to do with making work and having an artistic practice, not showing that work. Her answer had some serious implications. I prodded her for more of an explanation, and I think she said something along the lines of 'things that are made but not shown to anyone are craft.' This conversation happened years ago, but it disturbs me to this day.

My belief is that being an artist is intrinsically tied into making work, not where or to how many people you are showing it to. Showing art happens after the fact. To the 'Art Market folks' this is probably naive thinking. If you buy into the Art Market, then you buy into the necessity of Market rules: fast production, customers satisfaction, visibility and marketing. Showing the work is why the work exist at all. Let's be honest. That is what it is. (At least part of it... It's complicated.)

Art does need to engage the world though, and there are different ways that engagement happens. Maybe a painting gets shown in a gallery on 5th Avenue and engages the world in that way... an Art Market way.

Or perhaps the painter when making the painting engages the world in an entirely different way, a way that is so subtle it almost isn't visible. Perhaps the painter (or photographer, or filmmaker, or whatever) goes into the world and looks at it, and thinks about it, and from that engagement, alters the way that she/he lives their life, alters the way they consume, and makes work that reflects their vision and alteration.

This type of direct artistic engagement seems the essential part of what makes someone an artist or not. And for me this type of engagement holds more value than commercial success, because whatever artwork results from this process inevitably reflects the world, and that is what makes the work relevant. After that, chance and circumstance (the whims and concerns of people at any given moment) dictate if the art becomes representative of something greater, or becomes a commercial success.

There is way more to say... but that's enough for me.