It's hard to work on a movie, teach, holidays with family time, do work on your own time AND MANAGE A BLOG. It's hard.. I never said I never liked it though. To the new people just joining that I met at CTN, welcome. The people already following, Update: I will be putting more great artists I met on my right side column AND also some of my drawings and paintings will be linked as well.
Lets get back to business. Hope you all are caught up on my last posts since I haven't posted anything for a while. I'm going to say this once. If you didn't read the part 1/3 post before this one you will be so far behind you will crap yourself.
-BEAUTY- recap
So we talked about this thing called Beauty. This thing that can confuse reason and overload your imagination. Beauty is not just about the feel good and not only about the concept either. It's both. My former teacher (Philosopher from Boston College) told me a story as an example:
He was standing on a cliff watching a sunset with this girl. The sunset was very pretty, and he was thinking how beautiful it was with all the colors and with the calm ocean, it was so peaceful. So he is standing there with this girl staring at the sunset, thinking these thoughts to himself for some time, when all of a sudden the girl says, "I am just a speck."
She was experiencing that sunset on a whole different level than my teacher was. He just thought it looked pretty but to her not only was the sunset a site to see, it caused her to think about things that were greater than the sunset and herself combined. the relevance of life compared to the mass scale of the universe etc etc.. whatever BUT her mind was unlocked and she was experiencing the sunset and that itself was beautiful.. the beauty of the sunset. So think about that when you're trying to recall the last time you experienced something beautiful.
So now lets talk about Art itself. Just like beauty, you as an artist must at least have an opinion on art. So here is my opinion and if you disagree, GREAT. That means you already have a thought on art. Like last time I will get dense fast but remember my goal is not to get you to understand but to start to thinking about art as a form and not just something people DO.
-ART
Art is a touchy subject, some people say everything can be art but we all know some stuff just looks ... well like shit. Maybe a lot of stuff can pass as art but lets talk about what it takes for something to be good art.
-What (Fine) Art Can Not Be-
Art can't just be about stuff that makes you feel good. Nor can it be about about just looking so good that it only must please your senses. Porn for example, it's pleasing.. but that's it! It just pleases the senses and it doesn't go deeper than that. You cannot just go for the quick gag or only the shock-factor. If there is no thought or thinking involved that means that there can be no engagement to cause reflection.
(Fine) Art can't just be about color, sound, texture or any one single thing. These single elements must be arranged harmoniously so they show off their own essence as well as the essence of the other elements around them. These arrangements are usually called composition, contrast, rhythm, etc.
So don't want just want feel good and pretty things that might taste good like muffins. It's more than just pornography and muffins_ that's not fine art... you don't feel a muffin..
(P.S. if you email me that you feel muffins I'll kill you..)
So your art has to have it's aesthetics (looks) and you as the artist also put in a concept (thought) Lets talk about the aesthetics first.
-The Nature of Art-
What is art? What do you have to do to make great art? Kant said it best, "Art must appear as nature, not imitate it." So this does not mean go COPY nature, that would be imitating nature.
Nature is made is made of original forms, and so shall your art.
You must CREATE as an artist and make that creation feel as natural as life itself. Art pleases when it flows naturally. When everything in you art belongs like how tree's are meant to be there, like how the ocean is meant to be there, it Flows.. your art should not be shown as forced, it must look natural.
Let me pause and help you relate this to some things:
For the Animators: When animation flows and makes you forget about how it was made and engulfs you in the character or the movement, it makes the viewer feel like it is moving on it's own. Naturally. When there is a pop and you leave the mistake in your shot it doesn't look natural compared to the rest of your nice animation.
To the painters and drawers: Same as above, you are not going to do a charcoal piece and then slap on some watercolor over it. It wouldn't work visually. Your viewer would notice your materials more than your subject.
The music people: You wouldn't have a wonderful classical sonnet and 5 minutes into it mix in some Ice Cube rap.. The people would not say, 'Woa that was interesting.' They would say, 'What the F*k was he/she thinking when he/she was editing this. Key word: Editing. The audience will think about the process.
So to all the other art forms I didn't mention you get the picture. Where were we..
If you can locate how a piece was made, if you can locate the rules, if you can tell who the teacher was, the guidelines the artist used, then your art has lost the ability to induce feelings and therefore lost it's chance to give the experience of beauty. I don't know how else to say it .. wait I do, A beautiful art piece must look like it came from the heavens. :) Art must be above an assignment.
Original great art can prompt the mind to reflect. If YOU can make original work that not only does this but take that viewer to that next level like how that sunset took the girl in the story I mention, then you are ranked among geniuses.
-You are up there with the Mona lisa and the first Hellenistic Greek statue. From Carvaggio to Picasso, from Mozart to The Beatles, from Homer to Hemmingway, from Darwin to Einstein.
They all had that originality and translated it so that we could experience with sight, touch or sound. Their work makes us think and reflect. We just don't see their creation we see a thought behind the material.
Next post we talk about the concept part of Art and the Artist herself (himself).
-Daniel Gonzales
P.S. I have gotten many emails from you guys with great work and questions. Due the high amount and the little time I have over the holidays, don't be surprised if it takes me a few days to get back to you. especially around Christmas. But for now I'll just say, if you have questions COMMENT on the post. my email is to only to SEND me work. Thanks again for the support. Now go and make beautiful art masterpieces.
So now lets talk about Art itself. Just like beauty, you as an artist must at least have an opinion on art. So here is my opinion and if you disagree, GREAT. That means you already have a thought on art. Like last time I will get dense fast but remember my goal is not to get you to understand but to start to thinking about art as a form and not just something people DO.
-ART
Art is a touchy subject, some people say everything can be art but we all know some stuff just looks ... well like shit. Maybe a lot of stuff can pass as art but lets talk about what it takes for something to be good art.
-What (Fine) Art Can Not Be-
Art can't just be about stuff that makes you feel good. Nor can it be about about just looking so good that it only must please your senses. Porn for example, it's pleasing.. but that's it! It just pleases the senses and it doesn't go deeper than that. You cannot just go for the quick gag or only the shock-factor. If there is no thought or thinking involved that means that there can be no engagement to cause reflection.
(Fine) Art can't just be about color, sound, texture or any one single thing. These single elements must be arranged harmoniously so they show off their own essence as well as the essence of the other elements around them. These arrangements are usually called composition, contrast, rhythm, etc.
So don't want just want feel good and pretty things that might taste good like muffins. It's more than just pornography and muffins_ that's not fine art... you don't feel a muffin..
(P.S. if you email me that you feel muffins I'll kill you..)
So your art has to have it's aesthetics (looks) and you as the artist also put in a concept (thought) Lets talk about the aesthetics first.
-The Nature of Art-
What is art? What do you have to do to make great art? Kant said it best, "Art must appear as nature, not imitate it." So this does not mean go COPY nature, that would be imitating nature.
Nature is made is made of original forms, and so shall your art.
You must CREATE as an artist and make that creation feel as natural as life itself. Art pleases when it flows naturally. When everything in you art belongs like how tree's are meant to be there, like how the ocean is meant to be there, it Flows.. your art should not be shown as forced, it must look natural.
Let me pause and help you relate this to some things:
For the Animators: When animation flows and makes you forget about how it was made and engulfs you in the character or the movement, it makes the viewer feel like it is moving on it's own. Naturally. When there is a pop and you leave the mistake in your shot it doesn't look natural compared to the rest of your nice animation.
To the painters and drawers: Same as above, you are not going to do a charcoal piece and then slap on some watercolor over it. It wouldn't work visually. Your viewer would notice your materials more than your subject.
The music people: You wouldn't have a wonderful classical sonnet and 5 minutes into it mix in some Ice Cube rap.. The people would not say, 'Woa that was interesting.' They would say, 'What the F*k was he/she thinking when he/she was editing this. Key word: Editing. The audience will think about the process.
So to all the other art forms I didn't mention you get the picture. Where were we..
If you can locate how a piece was made, if you can locate the rules, if you can tell who the teacher was, the guidelines the artist used, then your art has lost the ability to induce feelings and therefore lost it's chance to give the experience of beauty. I don't know how else to say it .. wait I do, A beautiful art piece must look like it came from the heavens. :) Art must be above an assignment.
Original great art can prompt the mind to reflect. If YOU can make original work that not only does this but take that viewer to that next level like how that sunset took the girl in the story I mention, then you are ranked among geniuses.
-You are up there with the Mona lisa and the first Hellenistic Greek statue. From Carvaggio to Picasso, from Mozart to The Beatles, from Homer to Hemmingway, from Darwin to Einstein.
They all had that originality and translated it so that we could experience with sight, touch or sound. Their work makes us think and reflect. We just don't see their creation we see a thought behind the material.
Next post we talk about the concept part of Art and the Artist herself (himself).
-Daniel Gonzales
P.S. I have gotten many emails from you guys with great work and questions. Due the high amount and the little time I have over the holidays, don't be surprised if it takes me a few days to get back to you. especially around Christmas. But for now I'll just say, if you have questions COMMENT on the post. my email is to only to SEND me work. Thanks again for the support. Now go and make beautiful art masterpieces.
Hi Daniel,
ReplyDeleteAnother piece of great inspiration! Being just a spec in this universe is also a beautiful realization in itself! Thank you very much for continuing 'A Thinking Mind'. I look forward in reading the next entry!