SCI-ART LAB

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

Some time back I read an article in which "an art expert" had given "advice" to all artists on how to become great artists and get recognition. He even wrote a book on this! Although I didn't read the book, I read the important points of the book in a review. One of the advices he gave was - an artist should paint or create lots of works in his life time to become a great artist and get recognition and that s/he should paint at least one picture  a day throughout his/her life time! He says it is definitely possible!

It made my grey cells scream with agony.  But still I gave it a painfully thorough thought.

"Okay, you can paint one flower a day when you copy works of nature - you can also paint a scenery a day using reference photos.  Your mind need not think about anything else except little things like colour and composition and sometimes you can even take cues about these things from the pictures you are copying.  I have seen millions and millions of paintings like these in the art world. What is the big deal? In that sense the author of the book is right", my mind said.

Then I asked myself a question: "Can I do this too?" The answer I got is : "No, I can't!" Surprising!

Because my work is imaginative. Because I will have to think  science,  think theories, thoughts and themes in science, think logic in those themes, think philosophy, think art, then think how to co-relate art and science, think how to make them simple so that everybody can understand, think how to present science or philosophy in an art form, then think about  colours,  composition and all other details that make an art work what it is.  Then I will have to transfer the picture in my mind directly to the canvas or if I am working in other areas like installations or videos, they too have to follow the pictures in my mind! There will be lots of things on my mind and it takes a hell of time for me to create art works based on science.  So I cannot do innumerable works like other artists. At the most I can do one in a month so that it is of high quality and stands out. Bad news for me! Or is it good news for the art world?!

I sent an E-mail to this expert in art who advised artists to do at least one work per day. I asked him how on earth  can I create one work per day overlooking everything - especially quality which is a key element to my field?  It has been three years since I sent the E-mail and I am still waiting for his reply. And I forgot to tell you I sent him several reminders  too. Now I feel I will never get an answer to my question. I know I will have to get satisfaction like da Vinci did with only 12-15 works in my entire life time!

There are other questions too to which I am searching for answers in the art world.

I have seen a few videos done by "another expert" in Art about composition and a few  "rules" to follow while creating art. "Rule of odds" is one such thing. It seems you have to have odd number of things  for catching the eye of the viewer in your composition. Even number of items in a composition is bad art according to this expert.

Then the  mischievous gray cells in my head asked a silly question: "If I have six important points to present in a science theme, to follow the rule of odds, should I omit one or add one which does not exist at all in the scientific theory?"

Rubbish. How can I? Science doesn't permit such things!

Oh, a clash between science and art ?! In my mind! If I want to follow  science strictly I definitely cannot follow these rules in art.  Science doesn't give you such freedom like art. All these days I thought art world is free from these rules.  But now I feel art is adopting some scientific methods and adding a few rules that cannot be followed by people like me.

Again I sent an E-mail to the expert who made these videos and asked him how I could follow his rules while creating science based art to make it appealing to the eyes of human beings. I also requested him to explain whether his rules have any relevance to my work.

This time to my surprise I got a reply. But, wait a minute, before celebrating, my artist friends, listen to his reply:   " I will study your work and let you know in a few days  how you can use my videos". Two years passed and still he says he is studying my work! And I am pretty sure he will be studying them till his last day on this planet!

I am damn sure these experts knew very well you cannot create one art work per day - innumerable in an artist's life time - and yet they could be placed in the categories of "creative" and " good quality". They also realize you cannot follow rules every time you create art and sometimes "selling based on attractiveness" is not the only criteria with which a person creates his work. Aesthetics? Who said Aesthetics to art is what Ornithology to birds?! Science says if you want to create works based on me, dump the old theory into the Indian Ocean and invent a new one! Yes, here is the new theory: Aesthetics to the mind is more beautiful than aesthetics to the heart!

While creating works based on science themes  you got to be correct first. Then only you can think about beauty or whatever.

I myself have answered my questions! Now can I have peace of mind?

No, not yet, I still have questions. One of them is - why do these "experts" give "stupid" advices?

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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on November 21, 2012 at 7:54am

Marcelino Ferreiro Paz:
don`t worry, Dr. Krishna, in this world there seems to be a lot of people telling the others what to do, but the truth is there`s few examples to follow. Warm Wishes.
Krishna Kumari Challa:
Thank you so much., Paz. Glad to hear from you again. How is your work
going?

Mona Youssef:
Dear +Krishna Kumari Challa what was she expert in? As +Marcelino Ferreiro Paz mentioned, many can give abundance of advices but do they really work? The best advice is what we/artists experience ourselves in the real art world.
Marcelino Ferreiro Paz:
Possibly meant "marketing", which is destroying the real thing.Artist should avoid thinking about getting rich and famous, otherwise tomorrow somebody will succed with a flower, and will paint the same flower for the rest of life.Art requires investigation, ideas, vision, and hard work. Thanks.
Mona Youssef:
A flower might also, requires hard work if was thought about carefully, and painted professionally. But marketing is what can kill that flower if marker wanting to promote the leaves instead. A genuine artist does not look for fame or richness but of course, would promote oneself to receive a deserved recognition leading to making a decent living. Should he/she succeeds and obtain both; recognition and fame, let them enjoy it for their hard work.
Marcelino Ferreiro Paz:
Conversation started when somebody even wrote a book telling people what to do to be succesful, things like make a new painting everyday, lot of non-sense, considering sometimes a painting takes a year or more. Of course other things can be done meanwhile, and agree is need to find the right people who would pay your work,sometimes through others, Galleries , etc
Mona Youssef:
Did you mean telling them what to paint? Or advising them to create one painting a day!? I am aware of a gallery who does that, impossing certian subjects on his artists and does not even tell them to whom he sales their artwokt!!

Well some artists do finish one painting in few hours but of course, depends on the style and the quality. There is no such thing creating quality painting in one day or in one month. As you mentioned, it takes months and sometimes years. Usually expert buyers and collectors know the difference and professional artists will not sale their art to just anyone but to those who truly appreciate their art and the quality behind it.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on November 21, 2012 at 7:51am

don`t worry, Dr. Krishna, in this world there seems to be a lot of people telling the others what to do, but the truth is there`s few examples to follow. Warm Wishes.
Krishna Kumari ChallaMar 30, 2012Edit
Thank you so much., Paz. Glad to hear from you again. How is your work
going?
Best wishes
Krishna
Mona Youssef4:09 AM
Dear +Krishna Kumari Challa what was she expert in? As +Marcelino Ferreiro Paz mentioned, many can give abundance of advices but do they really work? The best advice is what we/artists experience ourselves in the real art world.
Marcelino Ferreiro Paz5:41 AM
Possibly meant "marketing", which is destroying the real thing.Artist should avoid thinking about getting rich and famous, otherwise tomorrow somebody will succed with a flower, and will paint the same flower for the rest of life.Art requires investigation, ideas, vision, and hard work. Thanks.
Mona Youssef7:17 AM
A flower might also, requires hard work if was thought about carefully, and painted professionally. But marketing is what can kill that flower if marker wanting to promote the leaves instead. A genuine artist does not look for fame or richness but of course, would promote oneself to receive a deserved recognition leading to making a decent living. Should he/she succeeds and obtain both; recognition and fame, let them enjoy it for their hard work.
Marcelino Ferreiro Paz7:52 AM
Conversation started when somebody even wrote a book telling people what to do to be succesful, things like make a new painting everyday, lot of non-sense, considering sometimes a painting takes a year or more. Of course other things can be done meanwhile, and agree is need to find the right people who would pay your work,sometimes through others, Galleries , etc
Mona Youssef8:16 AM
Did you mean telling them what to paint? Or advising them to create one painting a day!? I am aware of a gallery who does that,

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on March 31, 2012 at 5:30am

Thank you, Ziska, yes, you are right. There are several teachers and some good ones too who can think out of the box ways to teach! For the past several years I have been reading whatever literature I could lay my hands on in art. I have been discussing with all the art experts I came across about art. One of the purposes of creating this network is to interact deeply with as many art-related people as possible and learn things from them. I have more than 6000 friends in the art world now. But....several of my questions in art still remain unanswered! Instead of I learning from them,  people started learning from me how to go about in my area of specialization!

Consider this: Creating ordinary art is different from creating science based art. I have realized this  while dealing with the two different types. Art teachers can give advice on how to create art as they know it - like culture based or Nature based. Science based art? It is a different ball game altogether. Art teachers who are trained in in-box ways  have no idea how to go about in the world of science. I  found out this after interacting with several art experts. They don't even know the difference between science-art and science based art. They have no idea about different terms we use. Art curators and gallery owners are bringing science directly out of science labs and putting them in galleries and shows! They don't know how to "culturize" science and how to coordinate art and science! Worst of all some of them don't even know science has a culture of its own!

When I started creating science based art some years back , I tried to search on the internet using various key words related to my work for art based on science and most of the times  my website was the only one that would show up! I was really disappointed in the initial stages.  But after realizing that I was going to tread a new path, I was thrilled. There weren't any persons or literature to guide me then. So I went ahead on my own, learned things on my own,  and now I am more experienced than most people in this area. I am still learning but I am way ahead of several people in art in this new wave arena created by science. I wrote several articles and posted them here to guide people but as people from several parts of the world started copying my articles and claiming copyrights over them, I had to copyright  my works which is rare in India! I have closed the group science based art here temporarily because of this  as there are more than 60 articles posted there which are all written by me and you won't find such information anywhere else! Now this network is like a journal and art students who are venturing into science started consulting me and visiting this network  for guidance and material for their theses! Within two years the purpose of this network creation has been reversed automatically! I am really surprised by this outcome.

One of the  most important things that enriches culture is variety of thoughts! Are you thinking your own thoughts? Or are you, like too many people these days, blindly and unconsciously seeing the world through the beliefs, convictions, and assertions of others? Globalization is bad to art. It kills the variety.Thinking is one of the painful acts for some. No wonder, 'copy and paste' is replacing the thought process. You can read the article I wrote about it here: http://kkartlab.in/forum/topics/globalisation-affects-1

That is why I am writing a book on the subject now. Not because I am an expert but because my experiences are completely different from those of others and therefore I feel I can throw some light on the  path of science based art to help those who want to follow me.

To create another periodic table you need to show solid proof why you  think the old one has no relevance now and why the one you are creating is the right one. But you need not show "solid" proof in art to create a different path. Unlike science, art gives you complete freedom to experiment with and do what ever you want in that way. While the  new and different varieties of thoughts you 'add' to it enriches art,  'understanding' Nature by  working only in a frame work of rules and guidelines  formed by it and stuff already there in it and applying it to invent new things enriches science.

The site to which you gave the link is about making money which is not my purpose in creating art!

Comment by Ziska Childs on March 30, 2012 at 9:43pm

I had a professor once who looked around our Design class and said "My job is to break you out of your personal little world." He was right. He was a rude arrogant vindictive petty self righteous bastard- but he was right.

Would you decide to create your own periodic table because of one teacher seemed offensive? There is more than one teacher out there..... and there is a vast and glorious history of knowledge to draw upon should you choose to study it.

http://blog.entrepreneurthearts.com/

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on March 30, 2012 at 5:25am

Marcelino Ferreiro Paz - don`t worry, Dr. Krishna, in this world there seems to be a lot of people telling the others what to do, but the truth is there`s few examples to follow. Warm Wishes.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on March 30, 2012 at 5:11am

Thank you so much Jody, Bhaskar, Zisca and Irit for you invaluable comments. I am amused too. Now I am learning things on my own. You can never learn as much as you want from the art classes. Several of my artist friends told me they learnt most part of how to go about in the art world  on their own and not in the class rooms. Each and every artist is different and learns and masters his/her signature style with constant practice.

You are your own best teacher and critic. No body else can do full justice to these roles in your art and literature lives.

Comment by Irit Hakim-Keller on March 29, 2012 at 8:09pm

between getting angry or getting amused - I  have decided to choose the second one:) 

What a stupid adviser!!!!!

Comment by Ziska Childs on March 29, 2012 at 5:25pm

Art is a discipline and to improve it is wise to practice. A musician will practice, a writer will write, a dancer will stretch and move daily. On average it takes 10 years to learn your craft. Hand eye tasks are easiest to learn when young but they should be practiced throughout life in order to stay proficient.

I am not an expert and I certainly cannot tell you how to become a "successful" artist but I know that Leonardo's first lesson was "Learn how to see." His notebooks are full of lessons.

I also highly recommend this movie:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049531/

Comment by Bhaskar Hande on March 29, 2012 at 4:49pm

if u consider painting a picture every day it madness no body does this way even writer who writes does know how non practical thought is for himself. words are easy to say thats writers say. to become a famous artist is very hard circumstance in and around world. first artist must realise whats important for him express or impress. 

Comment by Jody Jaress on March 29, 2012 at 11:06am

Here!  Here!  Exactly!

Advice.  Opinion.  Personal experience.... sure, fine. 

But Expert?  No.  Nada. Nope.  I don't think so either!

What works for one doesn't work for all...

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