How to go see Art / Gallery Visit 101
Posted by Roberto Torres-Torres
So you like art, but find the galleries daunting. This is a common problem. Art needs viewers. Art, of any sort, is dead until someone experiences it. This is true for music and literature, but it is very certainly true of the visual arts. For someone who has an eye for art, and who wants to see new works regularly, going to galleries is the best way for you to go. The art world is constantly swimming with new exhibitions and gallery shows, all of which hold opening receptions of some sort. It is these events that I want to talk about.
When an artist or a group of artists shows their work somewhere, and holds a reception/opening/event to bring people there, their hope is for an audience to show up, look at their work, and hopefully appreciate it enough to want to purchase it. For many this process is very intimidating. It should not be. I am here to help.
What should you expect from an art opening?
Let's take, for example, a group show held at a local gallery. Most art openings are free-form events, intended to allow the public to come and go as they please. There is no pressure to be there “on time,” unless it is so specified in the announcement/invitation. There is no cover charge. There may be a cash bar or there may be complimentary refreshments served. The artist(s) and/or a gallery employee are usually there, ready to introduce themselves, as well as discuss any questions you may have about their work. This type of interaction is a welcome thing for most artists, as we rarely have the opportunity to interact with the consumers of art. It is completely cool to go up to the artist and introduce yourself, and comment on their art, or ask any questions.
Think of an art show as a communication format. The artists want to communicate with you through their art and through their words. The viewing public is also given the chance to communicate what the work is or is not to them, and if they love it, to purchase said work. Aside from that, there is a communication that happens between the patrons themselves. Art is intended to move the heart and/or mind. You are there to see if this art does this. At the very least, you will be entertained. Not bad for FREE.
What is expected of you at an art opening?
First of all, your very presence. As stated before, art does not live in a vacuum. It is your eyes and minds (and in many cases, all your senses) that are asked to participate. Of course, your preparation can aid in this, but it is not mandatory. You do not need to know the latest art movements, or any art movements at all, to enjoy an artwork or an art show. That does not mean that preparation will not come in handy, but that is up to you. What you really need is an open mind, uncluttered by the bullshit of the day. This is ideal, but we all know life does not often allow for the ideal. The beauty of art is that it will communicate what it can, to whom it can.
This is the beauty of living with art. You can look at it regularly in different light, in different states of mind, in different emotional situations, and get fresh insight. At a gallery show, this must obviously be limited, but that is part of the process. You cannot just hop into an art gallery, look at everything in a quick overview, and then leave right away. Not if you expect to actually create a mental dialogue with the art being shown. It takes a bit of time. First impressions are only enough for superficial matters. Art is deeper than that, otherwise it is just decoration.
Therefore, go to the gallery, walk in, take a casual stroll through and look at each work of art. Note what impression it makes on you and move on to the next. Keep your ears open for anything you may find interesting, such as who the artist is, and if she happens to be discussing her work. Sometimes the artist will give a small speech/statement discussing their latest work, or the direction they are heading in. Listen to them. See how this applies to the art you have looked at.
Go around again. Take a second look at everything. See how your impressions have changed or remained the same. No one will bother you for staying too long. No one will bother you for only staying 15 minutes. However, you must give the art a chance to speak to you, and this cannot be accomplished with a cursory glance at everything and a quick exit. There is usually some form of literature provided, either by the gallery or by the artist themselves. This is a good place to learn more about the artist and their work. There is likely to be some sort of sign-in sheet where you can provide your email and receive updates from either the artist or the gallery.
How do you find time for art shows?
The beauty of an art show is that you can access it at your own pace. You can use a visit to an art gallery opening as a precursor to a night out, as a great conversation starter among friends. You can swing by an opening after dinner on a Friday or Saturday night, and enjoy a drink while walking off some of dinner and feeding your mind a bit. Some people frequent art shows regularly, and use them as their socializing routine. Like-minded people enjoying art can be a very fun pastime. You can also hit several openings/shows in sequence and explore the full gamut of what is being offered on any given day. Hell, if you need a small break waiting for the traffic to die down after work, go to the art show! Kill an hour looking at art and then head home with a full mind. Even if the art turns out to be horrible, at the least you have something new to grouse about!
So many people are curious about art, and the art world itself. Yet, the very nature of it makes the art world appear to be an elitist situation, where only the informed and worldly and educated snobs of the world are welcome. This is really not the way it is, just the way it is portrayed in mass media. Most art openings are such casual affairs, and your presence means a lot to those showing work. Remember, if you like something, and can afford it, go ahead and buy something. Sometimes prints are available, or smaller works at a reduced price. The goal is for the art to communicate to someone enough that they wish to own it, and live with it. That someone could very well be you. If you have no money, feel free to enjoy the art anyways. Exposure is the goal of every professional artist, and while one person may not purchase something, their favorable comments about the art or artist can provoke others to buy work, or to come to the next art show. Share what you find. Talk about what you like or do not like. That makes you a part of the art world, and just as important a part as the artists and gallery owners. Go forth, and do so with confidence. The art world is waiting for your input and participation.
RXTT2011
The Human Face
Posted by Roberto Torres-Torres
One of the things I find most perplexing about ancient, pre-historic art is the lack of portraiture. We take portraits for granted, sometimes relegating them to the Fine Art backwaters, along with genre painting, still-life, etc. Potraits may be commonplace, but it seems that ancient man did not share this with us. The daring artists, probably shamans, who ventured into the secret magic places and left us images of wildlife, hunts, plants, and deities, also left behind images of themselves. Most of these images are not what we would call Portraits.
Did ancient humans not have a need to create images of each other? Once society developed enough to create cultures and permanent settlements humans began to craft individual portraits. Until then, the focus may have been more on a magical aspect of art. Instead of being decoration for beauty's sake, art was maybe the most powerful tool in the shaman's bag of tricks. With sympathetic magic a painting of a succesful hunt would help to bring about an actual succesful hunt. In a world living with these ideas, a specific portrait of someone might indeed be seen as stealing their very soul, much like people who are first exposed to photography have reacted throughout the world. I wonder what changed in humanity to allow for the creation of portraits. The one below is from around 150 BC, and is a portrait created for the funerary rituals of a noblewoman.
It does seem to be that once the switch was made in humanity, the portrait became ubiquitous. To have a portrait of oneself was a sign of opulence, of modernity. The detailed studyof the human face, and the ability to portray that in paint, granted the powerful with a new tool. They could use portraits as propaganda. Whether this meant crafting a relief sculpture of the Ceasar for their coinage, which everyone would see and admire causing them to associate their ruler with their money, or whether it was a painting commissioned to commemorate a coronation, instantly granting it's subject the grandeur of royalty, the portrait was subservient to the whims of man.
Formal portraits have lost their power in an age of quick reproduction. Photography allowed the masses to obtain lasting images of themselves and their loved ones. Portrait paintings became out of fashion, while portrait photography exploded. Ancient man would see our world today and marvel in fear at our reckless use of images. As a species we create and display more portraits every day than could be imagined by our ancestors. We just call it "advertising."
While some may think this would be the death of the art portrait, I find it to be beneficial in a very specific way. By taking the requirement of exact reproduction away, photography leaves space for painters who can use their art to convey something deeper than mere surface. When the Outer is fully examined, it is the Inner which truly informs. Ancient man did not seek to portray an individual human. He sought to portray an idealization of a human for the benefit of all. Modern painters seek to paint the inner truth of their subjects, thereby granting them some semblance of immortality. The focus of portraits has shifted many times in the past and will shift again. That is a given. However, the past history of portraits does not necessarily point to their future. There is still endless room for innovation and creativity. That is the challenge to the modern artist, for the obsession with the human face continues unabated.
Is My Red Your Red?
Posted by Roberto Torres-Torres
One of the difficulties facing artists is the use of color. This does not only refer to the choice to use or not use color in a given work, but to the actual color relationships in the piece itself. Certain combinations of color can arouse intense emotions, drawn up unconsciously from the depths of the viewer's mind. Other combinations can soothe and calm instead. The question is, how do we know that the color we are using is the color the viewer sees?
For a long time, humanity has treated color as an intrinsic quality of objects. A red rose was assumed to be equally red regardless of who was looking at it. "A rose is a rose is a rose" to quote Gertrude Stein. With the advent of modern optical science, and the extremely in-depth study of light, it was revealed that color is not an inherent property.
White light, as is shown by a prism, is composed of many distinct wavelengths of energy, each one corresponding to a different color. Our eyes process the information, the light which has bounced from the object and into our vision, and our minds read this as a specific color. This does not happen as in a reflection, but instead happens as a reduction. This is important. When white light hits a red rose, the rose soaks up every wavelength of light visible to our eyes except for the one that matches the color red. Does this not imply that the rose is every color except red? That does not fit our "common sense" approach to color.
This creates a strange paradox. If color is affected so easily, could our own eyes affect the color as well, before our brain actually processes it? Is there any way to determine if we are all seeing the same red when we look at a rose? Color-blindness of various sorts exists, and just adds to the question. A person who has yellow/purple color blindness cannot distinguish between the two. This happens in the eye itself, for it is the eye's color receptors that are lacking, whether due to damage or a congenital condition.
Maybe our eyes all do see the same colors. When an artist recreates someone else's work, they usually have little problem matching the colors. However, when two or more artists are painting the same rose at the same time, the color variations can be quite varied, and not necessarily due to artistic license.
These are the thoughts that keep me up at night.
-RXTT-
The Primacy of Drawing, or, How To get Your Mo-Jo Back
Posted by Roberto Torres-Torres
Many people are under the impression that drawing is a gift reserved for the very few. They seem to think that it takes a specific amount of innate talent to draw. This is simply not the case. Anyone can draw. Anyone can learn to draw. It is a skill, much like writing, or reading, or bicycle-riding, and for many artists, it is the primary source of their Art.
If drawing from a subject, the act of drawing becomes a direct conversation between one's hand and one's eye. If one is drawing from memory, the conversation occurs between one's hand and one's mind. In the former, the eye explores the subject, while the hand makes marks on a surface, to render the subject being analyzed. Through this the artist reaches a closeness with his/her subject that is much deeper than if the artists had just looked, and not drawn. It can be time-consuming and rigorous or it can be spontaneous and free. For example, the drawing below was done in less than 3 minutes while looking at our old dog, Chiquita. It is rough, and loose, but it captures her mood perfectly. (click to enlarge)
In the latter, the hand directly communicates what the mind, both conscious and subconscious, is thinking. This allows for endless surprise and thematic complexity, since the human mind is at all times frothing with imagery, thought, and context. If one is lucky and dedicated, this will be evident in the final artwork. Through countless drawings, the artist can develop a conduit from his/her subconscious, allowing exploration of the inner-space of our lives. The image below is a drawing done with India Ink and bamboo brushes. There is no under-drawing, no sketching, just the ink and the page. (click image to enlarge)
Drawings are so fulfilling because they are immediate. They take shape quickly before our eyes. Sometimes it seems that new artists are taught primarily how to come up with conceptual ideas instead of being taught how to draw what they see, both in the world and in their mind's eye. This is not fair to an up-and-coming artist. A strong basis in drawing greatly affects how one's work looks, whether it is sculpture, printmaking, painting, architecture, etc. It is the true source of Art for humanity. The very first art was likely a series of scratches made in dirt with a sharp stick. This is Drawing. It is never too late to join up in the continuum from the earliest hominid artist to the current crop of image-makers.
What do you think? How does Drawing affect your work? If you already draw regularly, good for you. If you do not, ask yourself "Why?" It is easy, fun, and nearly FREE! It can only improve your "eye," and it can only improve your Art. It may also aid you in exploring your own Mind. Is that not the greatest source of material for any artist? How do you know what is in there if you do not explore it?
-RXTT-
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