Yes, he's going to go on and on about juried art shows.
That's true. There are those among us who do not like juried shows. I personally don't blame them. When you have labored for weeks, sometimes months to make a piece the most brilliant, beautiful, amazing thing on the face of the earth, it is no fun at all to have some jumped-up, artsy-fartsy, know-it-all tell you you are not good enough to get into the show. How the hell does he know?
He doesn't. That's the only answer there is. The jury, no matter how carefully selected, is just a bunch of folks with opinions which are no better than your own.
So how come they get to decide. Because they are the jury. Life isn't fair. They, or at least most of them, try to be as objective and impartial as they can be, which to tell the truth isn't very but that's a story for another paragraph, juries aren't impartial. They make their choices on the basis of their own opinions. Now aren't you glad you read today's post? Two universal TRUTHs in one tiny little posting!
Now most of the time, juries are composed of talented artists with solid reputations and they work very hard at being fair and even-handed. Even when they are mysterious, legendary artists, plucked from the halls of Olympus, they try to shed their God-like power and pick'em like they see'em. You know how well that works out.
So why should anyone expose themselves to this unfair, opinionated, biased, fixed, rigged jury system. You've just said it doesn't give an artists a chance, the die is cast before the first post mark is stamped.
Risk. That damned four letter word.
Sure, you do the very best spotted dog paintings in the world, nothing can hold a candle to them and your mother loves them, but does anyone else? Me I see art in found objects. I see a log swept into the rocks of the jetty and to me it looked just like a fish.
So far no one has agreed with me. But that's okay, I still like my fish story and I know its a fish even if that jury at the museum didn't! And that's the truth!
When a jury looks at what you have created you get a chance to see if your picture, painting, sculpture has communicated with another living soul. Do you want that communication to be a simple, "Hi". or a "Howdy!"
Risk is taking what your mind screams into your eye and forces that great, big, clumsy hand to hack out of the air with a brush or a camera or a sander or a shovel. Yes, even ordinary hand tools can be used to create art. Take a look at what the guys do with chain-saws the next time you are feeling really smug.
Sand painters are to my mind the bravest of all artists. They know when they start a work that no matter how good it is, only the people who are there while they create it are going to see it. That's guts, boys and girls.
And that is my message for tonight, class: If you can't be good, be obvious. But take the risk
This looks like a jellyfish about to snare dinner or paint peeling off an old hull. Which jury do you belong to.
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