Sunday, June 3, 2012

Words and Art

To eloquently write about your work is the equivalent of getting your masters degree in art circles. Having your work seen by the right people is a herculean task to begin with, but writing about it is even more difficult, if like me, you spent the majority of your formative years staring out the classroom window while your English teacher explained sentence structure and grammar.

Primarily using the right side of my brain, I found it difficult to absorb rote-learning exercises where memorization skills were paramount. I squandered a good deal of my childhood daydreaming, more than I did learning the three R's. Art school was full of similar types, who were loaded with creative ambition, but few resources to funnel that creative energy into a focused objective when it came learning skills of a cerebral nature.

For me, writing is the discipline that allows me to focus more on what I want to get across in my photographs, without all the confusion that goes along with having ADD. This is a painful process that sometimes takes hours of revisions and drafts in order to match what I have in mind, into a cohesive essay that will marry the words to the photographs I have taken. It never comes easy for me, but it's essential to the process. If I don't organize my creative ambitions into words, my thoughts and ideas turn to white noise.

The flip side to writing about your photographs is you're competing with critics and cultural elitists, wanting to leave an imprint upon the art world. It's a daunting task to write about your work, when academic theorists dominate photographic circles as arbitrators of taste and culture. The dominance of words over imagery devalues the photograph, when the prose takes precedence. Too many artists statements or essays about photography are exclusive, rather than inclusive in tone. They seem to be written in a secret code or language, which can only be digested by a select fraternity of artists or academics. Postmodern writings are notorious for the practice of cryptic prose. If the goal of writing about art is to get your point across, why do I often feel like I often can't figure what the point is?

If the end, it is the image that will stand alone when determining whether or not a photograph is a good work of art or not.  The incessant posturing of elitists within photography and art circles is a distraction for many artists, but should never be the guiding influence in determining how you take photographs, or how you write about your own work.  You'd be well served to go with your gut, and filter out the intellectual dribble of the tastemakers.  Easier said then done.

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