SCI-ART LAB

Science, Art, Litt, Science based Art & Science Communication

After having to pretend (play the game) at university to get my visual art degree, I set about making what I think of as real art. Institutional art in my view is not art but illustration for a theory. Let me explain. For art to be "taught" at university it needs to be assessed. The obvious problem is how does one assess a work of art. A student could come in drunk off his or her face, throw some paint on a wall everyday for 3 years and get a degree. So to make it assessable universities force everyone to do conceptual art. That is art that has a theory. The student comes up with a theory then sets about making art to resolve this theory. I remember one student who was failing because he could not make art under this structure. He kept wandering his art away from his theory and could not explain to the teachers how his images fitted with his theory. In my view he was failing because he was making real art. His art had broken free and was running wild. He was getting quite a hammering from the teachers and I could see his spirit failing. I took him aside as soon as I could and told him to make the art first, and then invent a theory for it... but don't tell anyone. This he did, and he was successful and a happy man.

My point is that the universities have got it wrong. And many institutionalized artists are , as I said, illustrating a theory. I believe this is why much art is missing the mark, and is no longer beautiful. And by beautiful I don't mean so much aesthetically, but that it can move you. Psychologists have been telling us for years that our consciousness is but the tip of the iceberg of our being, and is nothing compared to the power of our unconscious. I am sure some of you can remember some dreams you have had where your unconscious had created a magnificent story, or work of art or fantastic music, far far beyond what you would be capable of in your conscious state. So why are we letting the less intelligent and less creative part of ourselves call the shots in art? Art is the very thing that can tap directly into the power and infinite ability of our unconscious.

What we need is for artists to do the art first.... let it run wild... choose subjects and images on feeling, not theory... then, and only then theorize, or conceptualize the art (if you must). Because only in this way will we truly find something magnificent and moving. Something really unique and that reaches out beyond the norm.

My student colleague who I told to lie nearly didn't make it through university. To me he was a real artist. I saw other real artists in the first week of university, sitting forlorn in the university car parks in stead of in the school, head in hands wondering how they were going to fit their round pegs of being into the square holes of the institutional art establishment. Just about all of them I never saw again at university. The system of educating artists is turning the real artists away in droves. The ones that could perhaps save or resurrect the pieces of a world loosing itself year by year. This is not to say we don't have real art that moves us or artists that can and do... but more to mourn what we could have if things were different... if we let art and our larger unconscious lead the way and not our minuscule consciousness.

I remember a quote form a Californian art group, it went something like: art is like a car. You can sit it in the driveway and take it apart, or you can get in it, and go somewhere.

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Nmaste' William..

Good article and it really is a powerful message
I used to paint the way I was taught at the university but my heart did not sing with what I learnt and i know onething for sure "everything i know today , i did not learn from schools or colleges or universities"

Since years, i have to give up my right hand and ever since i learnt to be a real artist at heart

True art takes note not merely of form but also of what lies behind.
Mahatma Gandhi Quotes -

Love and blessings
Agape to thee
theonesoul
ars est celare artem
(True art is to conceal art )
Thanks for starting this discussion, William. This topic is really interesting.
I am not a trained artist. I didn't learn how to create art anywhere. I started painting when I was a little child.
It came naturally to me. Should we follow rules to create art? I don't follow any! Because I can never work in a box.
I feel what comes naturally from the depth of the human mind & the bottom of the heart is the real art. It should not be fenced in & allowed to suffocate. The artist has the right to present it to the world in the way he wants-the way he visualizes it in the box above his shoulders-provided it doesn't harm the society & hurt anybody. This natural art with all its variations that all the human neuron evolution could gather has a charm of its own. Asking it to follow certain rules is like asking the human brain to evolve in only one direction-the direction of stagnation & stunted growth.
Some of my artist friends told me they didn't learn anything in art schools & colleges! Even if they did, they don't practice it in creating art now.
Well, while creating art from science, I choose the topic first & then work on it!
Different things work for different people!
I feel happy because my work is appreciated all over the world. Do you know how many people send me messages daily supporting my work?
Now tell me do you need degrees in art colleges to become a successful artist?
Krishna
Dear William
I agree
This is what I have tried to do my whole art career
Interesting article, but do most artists work from theory? I am in a doctoral program at Columbia University, It is art and art education program, not the art department across the street, but most people here so their painting and sculpture without understanding or caring about theory. I recently picked up a book by Feyerabend, who wrote against theory in the scientific world, saying it was all BS
Good work
I am working with some interesting groups of artists and that is my doctorate , artists helping each other and being responsible for organizing and creating exhibitions and their own history

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