PoppaRex,
Please do not misunderstand me. Having "something to say" does not necessarily translate to a concept or to something that can be put into words � not at all. Both my wife and my daughter rail against conceptual art that cannot stand by itself without being propped up by indecipherable long-winded essays that are written in the nonsense of artspeak, which is a language that is taught in art schools across the United States. To earn a Master of Fine Arts degree today requires only a mastery of artspeak, not a mastery of any craft, any technique, or any skill actually used in visual expression. Simply, many MFA graduates today cannot draw, cannot paint, and cannot sculpt to save their lives. It is a travesty in my opinion, because the language of the visual arts is not artspeak, it is the language of line, color, shape, form, and texture used to make artistic expressions � even in photography � even in film and video.
Yes, "the sheer joy of it" is why many artists do what they do, and much of what my wife and my daughter make comes from that place. But not everything. Consider:
http://koe-sylwester-artist.blogspot.com/2009/11/girl-with-flower-tummy.htmlhttp://koe-sylwester-artist.blogspot.com/2009/11/howling-at-wall.htmlhttp://koe-sylwester-artist.blogspot.com/2009/11/antagonist.htmlhttp://kingnapoleon.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d170218http://kingnapoleon.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d1fj2pxhttp://kingnapoleon.deviantart.com/gallery/#/dw4kdihttp://kingnapoleon.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d13wqlwhttp://kingnapoleon.deviantart.com/gallery/#/dztvechttp://kingnapoleon.deviantart.com/gallery/#/dodlxbhttp://kingnapoleon.deviantart.com/gallery/#/dmlvs4http://kingnapoleon.deviantart.com/gallery/#/dm6azlhttp://kingnapoleon.deviantart.com/gallery/#/dictyxhttp://kingnapoleon.deviantart.com/gallery/#/dd2durhttp://kingnapoleon.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d8aly5http://kingnapoleon.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d7m0luLiesel is now 21. The second-from-the-top image of hers above was made two years ago , and the bottom image was made seven years ago. None of the artworks shown were done in an art class or for an art class; they are all personal expressions done for personal reasons � and they came from difficult and painful emotions, not joyful emotions.
My wife refuses to explain the imagery in her artwork because she does not want the viewer to think that art is about correct interpretations. Why my wife likes her own artwork and why she made it is irrelevant to why the viewer should like it. If the artwork does not speak to the viewer without an accompanying written explanation, then the artwork fails.
Consider my wife's artist's statement:
http://koe-sylwester-artist.blogspot.com/2009/11/introduction.htmlUnfortunately, much of today's "art" is the stuff of angry contrived political statements, especially in the realm of feminist art. Art can be political, but it suffers if that is all that it is. In my opinion, the best visual art does not come from the controlled and controlling rational mind that is fully capable of expressing itself in words, because then � at best � what is being produced is the stuff of article illustrations � mind stuff, not heart-and-soul stuff that touches the human spirit.
Concerning artists and scientists: Yes, there is some crossover, but very, very little. Your average MFA art student has never taken Organic Chemistry, because your average MFA art student would flunk Organic Chemistry. Hell, your average MFA art student has never taken General Chemistry or Calculus. On the other side, your average Ph.D. scientist of any stripe has never taken a Drawing class, and has no meaningful appreciation for the visual arts because he/she has never really been exposed to the visual arts. On a university campus, there is almost no traffic between the art studios and the science labs; the paths do not cross.
But I will state this: the best scientists are artists in their scientific work, and the best artists are scientists in their artistic work.
Steven A. Sylwester
