Response to pg 24-46; Work Samples

I have two opposing feelings about this reading. On the one hand I am happy and appreciative to this author. I feel like it truly is valuable information that I need as an artist. I feel like I have learned a lot, and will use this again as a reference. But, on the other hand, it disturbs and frustrates me beyond belief. I hate what the art world has become. Art is about creativity and expression. And I feel like the tedious tasks that are required of artists hinder that. I don’t want to have to be so confined, and have to do everything the way I’m suppose to. Art is suppose to have no rules, but to BE an artist your life is governed by rules. Not only in how you make work samples, but who you know, what you do, where you show, etc.

This piece did bring to my attention that most viewers will not see my artwork in person and that is why it is important to represent your work well, and I agree will that completely. I just dislike all the other rules like what you have to say and where to put information. I also think that not all artwork is suppose to have a description. Some artwork is meant to be whatever the viewer takes from it. I do tend to love art that I know what the artist was thinking and wanted to represent more so than art that is open to interpretation, but that doesn’t mean that all art has to be described.

I do think that I am at a slight advantage with photography as my main focus. For my photographic work, I do not have to shoot a picture of my work, because my work in a picture. And even though I shoot in film, I always scan my negatives to work on them in Photoshop, so I have digital copies. Also, having skills in photography will help me document my pieces that are not photographs. Although, I am not trained in lighting studio type shooting yet, I still know how to work a camera and in time I will be trained in all the aspects I will need to document my own work.

I also feel like, though it is good practice to document my work now, most artists do not display their artwork made while an undergrad. Probably because they know that they only have so much time to make a good impression on viewers who do not see their work in person. To have artwork out there that they made while training as an artist may make the artist look unskilled. So the fact that we have to do this could hinder us in our future careers.