pauflip:

pollums:

Okay prepare yourself for a long post anon ahahahah! Sorry!

I have this term that I’ve been throwing around for a few years to refer to a very specific tendency in art- I call it “Pretty Art”.

Pretty Art in its most simplest explanation is when an artist…

This discussion reminds me a little of an interaction I had at my gallery during the opening of Monsterbation 2…

I was standing behind the desk, proud of the show and all the wonderful work in it when all of the sudden a visitor to the gallery started asking me some questions. Just to get this out in the open right now: I know very well that “monstrously erotic” artwork is not for everyone and has more chance to upset viewers rather than please them. With that said, I wasn’t surprised when this visitor started making faces at me as she began to express her opinions. According to her:

The artist should always strive to make beautiful work, never should they waste their time on ugly, profane things. To work in the grotesque is a waste of time and talent that should instead be applied to making work that swoons the viewer into a glorious bliss.

This was the first time I’ve ever had to defend my line of work and the work of the artists who contributed to the show. In times past, I’ve been asked why I draw monster porn or why I’m such a freak but not until then was I ever told that my work was pointless, ugly, wasteful trash. I find myself to be open minded so I always try to see things from other people’s perspectives so I did so with her. I was very easily able to see how she could be so shocked and unnerved by the work in the show, how it could amaze her how artists would actually desire to make work such as that. However, as I try to see other people’s perspectives, I also try to help people do the same when I feel they are not, so I asked her:

How can you possibly have “beautiful art” without “ugly art”? For either to exist so must the other. As the good old adage goes: “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”. When it comes to the artists in this show, including myself (the curator), we find the depictions we create and the monstrosities depicted within to be beautiful and deserving of attention. In fact, you should be glad we create the work we do; as I already mentioned earlier, you can’t have your definition of “beauty” without your “ugly” to support it.

Unfortunately, all she could respond to this was how she still doesn’t understand why an artist would work on “such trash” (verbatim) and roll her eyes. I told her that I don’t know either, really, but I’ll continue to do it just the same. 

Here’s the point I’m trying to make: It may seem like a lot of artists simply create what they feel will be most marketable, attract the most positive attention and therefore, elate them to a higher status and pull them further from the pit of despair that is doing something and not receiving the validation of others, but all in all I believe artists just create what they love most. If you see a lot of artists that render “pretty, over-polished subjects”, well, that’s their mental image of desire. I believe most artists render what they desire; the subconscious reflection of their fantasies and imagery of which they can not obtain in this mortal realm. Whether it’s “pretty” or “ugly” is up to the audience, who is a product of this idea that artwork is “meant for other people to enjoy” rather than for the creator’s pleasure.

However, I also tend to fall back on this phrase when considering this kind of debate: Who cares? Why do you care about what other artists wish to render with their own time and skill? If you’re concerned enough with other people’s artwork to write an opinion piece about it, become a teacher and put these artists down. Become a curator or an editor and decline their work. Otherwise, if you’re an artist who is upset about what you’re seeing in the “popular spectrum”, get to work and make the kind of art you think deserves to be noticed and appreciated; work that is not so “pretty” and “polished”. Promote and showcase artists you admire instead of pointing out the aesthetic of artists you do not. Just be mindful of one thing: do it because you want to see it, want to make it, want to strengthen the minority standpoint. We need more good work and dedicated artists willing to create “not pretty” and “unpolished” art.