What do Artistic People create and why do they do it?

"Home at Last" 16 x 20 acrylic on canvas

As an artist, I’ve thought a lot about that question. What is it that makes me create and why do I do it? Perhaps my answers will also be yours:

An artist wants to share what touches him or her visually and emotionally, and may find it difficult to impart these feelings in any other way.

Artists have a driving passion to put down on paper or canvas the experiences in their hearts and souls that would either cause them to explode in joyful ecstasy or painful agony if not expressed. Artists and writers often share these same passions, but articulate them through different mediums.

We all have a need for intimacy, some people more than others. When someone views an artist’s work it is like inviting them to share an intimate moment of our personality and perspective on life.

"First Daffodil" 16 x 20 acrylic on canvas; model Kayla Dahm

An artist may create a mini-story, a glimpse into the human soul, a taste of the human condition, or they may take us on a wonderful adventure either through realism or exciting plains of color and movement.

The viewer may virtually walk the terrain of uncharted territory, explore the shape and form of facial structure, and fathom in a new way the miracle of life, the struggle of humanity, or the joy of rebirth.

By altering line, angle and space through color, light and shadow, an artist controls the mood and mind of the viewer and leads them on an intimate journey around the canvas and back again to the focal point or center of interest.

Viewers are rarely aware of the invisible companion who leads them from one point to another as the story unfolds. When the onlooker experiences pleasure, happiness, or darkness the artist has done his or her job.

“So this is what old age brings?” an observer may comment on seeing an unfulfilled wastrel lamenting over his fateful actions.

"Reggae Night" acrylic on canvas

“That’s exactly how I felt when I was dancing,” says another, as they sway in their mind and remember the cadence of drums, sand, and the smells and sounds of the Caribbean. As an artist, you brushed this scene onto canvas using your own fond memories where they lingered playfully in your mind waiting for you to give them the breath of life.

Fulfillment happens when the artwork is finished not when it’s viewed, commented on, or sold. As artists we rarely get to see or know the experience of the viewer, or whether they perceived our art in the same way as we created it. 

Once we have “put it all out there,” we have done our part. The rest is up to chance, fate, or destiny. For some of us, it is a blessing from God for which we are eternally grateful and joyful.

"Blending In" 11 x 14 acrylic on panel (The feathers replicate the petals, which is how I
saw this scene and painted it.)

Kitschy, Kitschy Koo is no Longer Baby Talk – It’s a Meme

"The interior of a Mexican Restaurant" Kitschy or Cool?

The term “meme” has been around since 1976; yet, for some of us, it feels brand new thanks to the Internet. The word, first coined by Richard Dawkins was used to describe the behavior of genes. Later he referred to the internet’s use of meme as “deliberate and altered;" In other words – a high jacking of the original content or idea. #stolenstuff 

Pronounced meem, this term refers to any idea, style, action which spreads, often as mimicry, from one person to another on the Internet. Like a plague or a disease, a meme may take the form of an image, hyperlink, video, picture, website or hashtag. Even an error or misspell can become a meme that catches on and spreads until it becomes popular and accepted usage.

"Kitschy" or Flashy?

I’ve seen it in the art world. A popular composition or theme gains momentum when it is shared and soon there are countless variations or knock-offs from that first original idea. Like rabbits, these alterations spawn additional copycat versions earning the title of “kitsch.”

What exactly is kitsch? In the 19^th century it was art that conveyed exaggerated sentimentality and melodrama or “camp” if it was humorous or ironic in nature. Today kitsch is simply tacky or in bad taste. The word “gaudy” is sometimes used to describe work that is calculated to have a popular appeal. But beauty and worth are both in the eye of the beholder. "One person's trash is another man's treasure," so who's to judge? #Lovemyjunk 

Kitsch is not a new word. Originating in Munich, Germany around 1865, it described any artwork that was cheap, popular, and marketable. That still holds true today. The reason artists resort to kitsch in the first place is because it’s fun, quick, and lucrative. Kitsch brings in the cash and butters the bread.

Kitschy or Catchy?

Critics argue that the essence of kitsch is imitation. The purveyors are merely copying the beautiful and the popular to make money, but the good and substantial part of the work is missing.

Kitsch becomes “cliché” when it is overused to the point of losing its original appeal. Salvador Dali once said: “The first man to compare the cheeks of a young woman to a rose was obviously a poet; the first to repeat it was possibly an idiot.”

Ironically, Dali stole that phrase from Gèrard de Nerval who said: “The first man who compared woman to a rose was a poet, the second, an imbecile.”

"Couldn't resist adding an Internet joke." #nothingpersonaldear

The old fashioned game of “Whisper” where you passed a secret from one ear to another seems minuscule compared to the scope of the “world wide web” of today’s Internet. Like the flash of a speeding bullet, ideas, artwork, and photographs race across cyber airways adding fodder to meme, kitsch, and consequently the trash that ends up in our inbox. #damspam 

The Jewish culture has long had a word for this aberration: “Schlock” which refers to something shoddy, cheap or inferior. In this day and age of information overload, perhaps we should use more discretion in our choices and focus on quality not quantity. We’ve all heard this before, but does anyone ever follow this advice? #turnsadeafear 

Stay tuned for a discussion of an art movement known as “Pop Surrealism” and why some consider this a “lowbrow” alternative.

mixed media -- "That's my Baby"