Why I love/hate "street art"/low-brow
I absolutely love underground art. I was infatuated when I was a kid, and I still have drawings from when I was 5 when I tried to imitate graff block letters. Oh underground art. I love the colors, the vibrance, the grit, and the idea of pushing the institutional envelope, how underground art is changing the way fine art does business. But there's something, or well, some things that have been bugging me recently as I've been hitting up the LA and SF art show circuit.. And I was reminded of this when I read Jeff Soto's post on fecalface. One is the issue of creativity.
I'm really determined on making it in this industry, but I get discouraged when I walk into what I think is going to be a tight show and am let down by the multiple pieces of art that look strangely familiar--people are literally biting off other people's shit! And I wonder, really?, do I really have to make my work look like other people's in order to take mine to the top? But not only that, I'm talking about artists incorporating specific styles and artistic elements so that their work could qualify under the 'low-brow' category. At times I find myself making art based on this LIST of criteria, yet I don't want to have to follow any set of rules. It's frustrating, damnit.
What styles or elements am I talking about? Well...
-Robots
-Cutesy characters
-Blob monsters
-Hot chicks with long hair
-Thick lines, arrows
-Paint drips
-Stuff that looks incomplete/sketchbook style
And don't get me wrong. There are tons of artists that I really really like that use these types elements and their work is siiick. But when there's such a big repeat of the same kind of stuff, it's when I think that this genre is becoming a bit too faddish, like all-over print hoodies or emo kids with tight jeans. Who wants art with an expiration date?
Even more, where the art becomes a fad it loses meaning. I feel like a lot of the big art out there nowadays is either: cold, detached, humorous, ironic, or simply pretty. Where's the depth? Some art looks like it's ironic for the pure sake of being ironic. And of course your art show won't attract any attention unless it has an ambiguous name like "Hamburger Potato Face" or "Sandwich Memoirs"...hm, maybe I'm just hungry.
Art is supposed to be an avenue of expression, but what good is it when you're limited to the confines of a category, or the edges of a four-sided square?
That's part of the reason why I started this blog. Paintbywords is my new summer project, and my motivation to keep producing new work. I want to explore other areas of style and concepts and totally disregard any previous notions of what I think/thought art is supposed to look like, and just do the damn thing. My next post will describe in detail what the project involves so keep your eyes peeled..
And just so I don't leave you without any visual stimulation (since your eyes probably hurt from reading so damn hard), here's a piece I did two months ago for some music industry party:
And this is something small I also did a few months ago. It still needs a lot of work. I did it quickly, so I'm not sure if I like it.
I'm really determined on making it in this industry, but I get discouraged when I walk into what I think is going to be a tight show and am let down by the multiple pieces of art that look strangely familiar--people are literally biting off other people's shit! And I wonder, really?, do I really have to make my work look like other people's in order to take mine to the top? But not only that, I'm talking about artists incorporating specific styles and artistic elements so that their work could qualify under the 'low-brow' category. At times I find myself making art based on this LIST of criteria, yet I don't want to have to follow any set of rules. It's frustrating, damnit.
What styles or elements am I talking about? Well...
-Robots
-Cutesy characters
-Blob monsters
-Hot chicks with long hair
-Thick lines, arrows
-Paint drips
-Stuff that looks incomplete/sketchbook style
And don't get me wrong. There are tons of artists that I really really like that use these types elements and their work is siiick. But when there's such a big repeat of the same kind of stuff, it's when I think that this genre is becoming a bit too faddish, like all-over print hoodies or emo kids with tight jeans. Who wants art with an expiration date?
Even more, where the art becomes a fad it loses meaning. I feel like a lot of the big art out there nowadays is either: cold, detached, humorous, ironic, or simply pretty. Where's the depth? Some art looks like it's ironic for the pure sake of being ironic. And of course your art show won't attract any attention unless it has an ambiguous name like "Hamburger Potato Face" or "Sandwich Memoirs"...hm, maybe I'm just hungry.
Art is supposed to be an avenue of expression, but what good is it when you're limited to the confines of a category, or the edges of a four-sided square?
That's part of the reason why I started this blog. Paintbywords is my new summer project, and my motivation to keep producing new work. I want to explore other areas of style and concepts and totally disregard any previous notions of what I think/thought art is supposed to look like, and just do the damn thing. My next post will describe in detail what the project involves so keep your eyes peeled..
And just so I don't leave you without any visual stimulation (since your eyes probably hurt from reading so damn hard), here's a piece I did two months ago for some music industry party:
And this is something small I also did a few months ago. It still needs a lot of work. I did it quickly, so I'm not sure if I like it.
posted by Allison at
6:57 PM
2 Comments:
i'm glad to see someone post about this. i've shared a similar love/hate relationship with it as well for of a lot of similar reasons. i really love how easily accessible something as simple as a stencil can be while it tackles a very serious topic. the drawback to that is that people see it and say "aww, that's cute" and go on with their day. it completely takes away from what the artist was trying to say, simply because it is so accessible. but we are lucky to live in such a mash-up culture, we can take different elements from any number of sources and just take the parts we connect with most to create something and hopefully come out with something fresh and possibly original. the problem with that is that people rely on the availability too heavily and just get lazy so you end up with the trends, most of which you have pointed out.
worrrrrd.
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