The war of art?

UPDATE: Check out Let's talk definitions.

I am a critic and someone who'd also like to be an artist, maybe in a field or two. But how do I improve when everyone disapproves?

One thing I want to believe in is to learn art because it is art, not because it will be my job someday. Thus, I entered an art school.

I know this is not the trend of today, as designs are evolving and everyone becoming an artist, but I still can't believe how some people would look at art as some tool to make money.

Yes, we design, compose, create and die to please, but then again, there would be people who would try to be more superior and see you as a lower entity. That's the life we entered, the waters in our minds in which people are oblivious about.

I mean, there are some who believe that they are already great to the point that they don’t appreciate another’s work, setting standards of their own, creating a closed mind to everything. I believe I am guilty of this, but try putting yourself in a panelist’s place when judging. And you are to criticize a student’s work.

You start to have an open mind and you become more inclined towards the student’s goal: to talk to people as if you were a client.

Now, people set standards of being strict. True enough that is how the industry goes. So, here, it is not art. You are confined to the limits of the client’s wants. And in the eyes of a panelist, they ask you to make them worthy. It would make you improve, maybe. But it would be better to express yourself first in order to create something better later on. And if you start working with clients, your creativity box will soon get smaller. To remedy this, create your own project and experiment with yourself on what you can do, not limit yourself with what you know in the past.

Well, that’s how I see it anyway. Clients will be a pain, and they have this image in mind that they want you to guess. Same goes for your fellow artists (read: competitors), they will try to know your weakness sooner or later, your techniques and your resources. One thing for a competitive artist to never give out is that.

It’s just this. “The weak are always trying to sabotage the strong.” A line from a Reese Witherspoon movie I forgot which about. True enough, those who become too conscious to focus on their improvement makes them inexpressive, less creative and clueless. And instead, they try to think high of themselves, make everyone feel inferior and criticize by the sideline.

Hell, I was like this. But thinking about it over and over makes you realize this huge, stupid mistake. You are in an art school to improve your mind, not to show off what you can do or that you can sell. You are here to ready yourself of future challenges, not the fixed trial of selling your art and design to the world.

Back to the panel, some panelists give you, “I don’t like this,” or. “This is moronic.”

They don’t know what they’re saying unless they justify. Always ask for a justification for in it lays your improvement. If none given, they are moronic themselves and it is they who should not be liked.

In real life, people would come up to you telling you things as such. A friend told me, “You’re irritating.” Of course, the quick response was a why. He answered completely in detail and with instances wherein he was irritated with me most. It made me change things, rather than first irk about what made me irritate him.

Anyway, try to be more objective, explore and create. Appreciate and criticize with justification and a suggestion on what one can do, but also point out what you like about one's art. If absolutely nothing, kindly tell him/her a better way to do it or what his/her mistake might be. Then finally say, “It’s just my opinion.”

But hey, remember to practice what you preach. And of course, I would be trying that out, too.

Cheers.