I have been in Madrid for the weekend, and I visited the Reina Sofia, which is home to some utterly amazing art, by some very well known, and not so well known, artists.
This got me thinking, who or what decisions lead to a piece of art being displayed for millions to see? Why one piece of art makes it to the walls of a museum and not another?
I looked at some of the paintings, one which had a orange wash across the canvas with a single horizontal streak of red paint across. I thought, well that is something me or anyone could paint. We didn’t and this artist did.
I then looked at Guernica, a huge complex piece, painted by Picasso. I thought well that’s Picasso, so therefore of course it should be here. Additionally, I thought, due to the complexity of the painting, that is something very few people could paint or even think up.
Art is of course a very subjective thing, what appears as art to one, my appear as trash to another.
To me I think it is to do with the story behind the artist, the originality of the piece and therefore the fact that it is different.
Guernica’s power is to do with the story of the Spanish Civil War behind it and to Picasso’s story too.
The piece is completely original and very different, whether you like it or not, there are no close copies of it, no one else can create such a piece, it has been done.
This is true in whatever we are creating in life, different ‘art’ and with a great story behind it, is what will get our work noticed.
Then the same applies, our work, our craft, our services are not for everyone, it is subjective.We all have our own audiences for what we create.
However, if the art is not different, original, with meaning and there is no story, then we can only expect mediocre results.
We are not here to create mass, bland, copies of what has been done before, we are here to create something with meaning, that relates to our story.
Philip Dodson 