When we make art

If we are to begin to approach an understanding of art we must begin by trying to understand the different components that combine for the creation of art.  At the outset it is easy for one to recognize that works of art have form,  and that a basic understanding of material handling is inherent for the forms manifestation. This type of materials handling, and in turn the production of the form we will call craft. In advance of the form, the development of the content that drives the choice of form to be fabricated we will call concept and the intellectual decisions and discoveries that emerge from employing craft in the service of concept we will call artistic development.

So to be clear, on some level begin with an idea, inspiration or discovery that leads to a motivation to make something (an art pre-concept) [I want to deal with my perception of the social injustice of poverty]

You then solidify what you are going to express in the artwork, a specific or general position, an announcement, an expression, a result or effect. [My position is that social injustice exists and has negative affects on the poor]

Then you must deal with the scope—general or specific, personal or universal, subjective or objective. [These negative effects on the poor happen today in our society are tangible and specific]

You must then specify and declare what you are saying [Our middle and upper class, here in America, help create and sustain social injustice and it has substantial negative affects on the poor and people should recognize it and be aware of its significance]

You then discern how you wish to describe that idea, with what manner of artwork. This could include scale, material, interaction, color, or simply the artist’s notion of what s/he wants the viewer to experience or understand or walk away with. [I want people to see that the social injustice of poverty has a direct physical effect on the poor]

You must then figure out the best way to express this concept and position to the viewer in the way that most appropriately expresses your vision and position. This is what begins the idea of a form, and included in form is the history of form, and material and imagery and iconography. In brief, form solicits reference

Whether or not we wish to strip the magic and wonderful mystery that we surround art with as evidenced by our use of descriptive terms for makers such as artistic genius [or eccentric or fucknut] we must acknowledge that consciously or automatically we engage this process both as makers and as viewers and although it is more fun to imagine Santa coming down the chimney, at some point we realize that a fat, perpetually aging Scandinavian who has somehow managed to enslave an elfin workforce for the production of free toys in the most remote corner of the world is not going to whip a group of inappropriate transport animals into pulling him around the world in one night to slide down chimneys that may or may not exist in every residence of actively or passively adherent Christians to reward their mostly undeserving children for mediocre behavior while certainly favoring the wealthy kids over the poor with more abundant and increasingly expensive and desirable disposable, choke-able, plastic and occasionally toxic Chinese play things.

But as some will continually do, and as most parents will undoubtedly demand we cannot question art or the artistic mind or inspiration or spirit, who knows where it comes from all I know is my kid/friend/brother/mother/neighbor/countryman made it and I like it! In fact, I think it is really good and I am going to put it on the refrigerator and make a copy and send it to your grandmother.  In fact, I think it looks like one of those Picasso’s or splatter paintings and I am going to call my friend from work’s wife who is an artist and see if she thinks that this may be worth something.  I mean, it’s no Thomas Kincaide but it does look like some of that modern stuff, in fact I am sure it’s as good as that stuff and I even think that I see some sort of cloud thing in this one, and I never even saw anything like that in those paint drip paintings and you know I heard about this kid that could paint like Picasso and I think someone like Sharon Stone bought one of that kid’s paintings and I even saw a program where elephants paint and they sell them to support an animal park and this has got to be better than some elephant painting.

In short, art is something specific, and as such it has a process that governs it.  The more that this process is recognized and included in the consideration of created works, the clearer one’s understanding of the system of valuation that we use to determine the significance of the pieces being displayed and the substantial nature of their creation.