There’s a funny and ironic truth in the art and art-interested community that ultimately hurts both parties.
The artist is hesitant to allow the public into their personal space, hoping the finished piece will do the communicating, while the public is hesitant to interpret a finished piece on their own, hoping the artist will welcome them into their process and communicate more directly.
What results is a standoff from which neither party ever really gets what they want. And most art on the wall, because of this, never ventures beyond the realm of “cool”.
FIRST FIX: We need our artists to step up and engage the public rather than simply hang something on a wall. Explain your process. Explain your work. Think about your goals so you CAN explain your work. Learn how to talk about and explain your work simply so you don't stammer through the first 10 minutes of conversation as the viewer stares blankly back, nodding hesitantly.
If you’re art is supposed to communicate something, find out if it is, and, if not, work to fix that. Your work should be successful because it IS effective, not simply because you INTEND it to be effective. The best way to find this out is to, simply, start talking about it.
SECOND FIX: We need our public to get critical. I don’t mean you need to constantly criticize artists or artwork, but challenge the work around you and the artists that make it. If it is supposed to make you feel something, find out if it does. If it tells you something else, try to find out why. Feeling nothing (or the “wrong” thing) about an artwork is not a failure on your part…but the conversation shouldn’t end there either. An artist SHOULD be interested in the reaction to their work (whether they are or not is another matter entirely), both positive and negative, and they can’t use that feedback if it never comes.
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THIRD FIX: Everyone relax. Taking art more seriously doesn’t need to turn into a 4-hour-soul-shaking critique (though we should probably do that at some point as well.) We need artists more interested in engaging the community in their work rather than the beer that is next to the work. We need the public to communicate more freely with artists rather than keeping that question to themselves. Most of all, though, we need to get both sides feeling comfortable talking and comfortable actually talking to each other.
While every artist and art-lover must find their own way to feel more comfortable discussing, investigating and engaging in art, one way I personally am trying to embrace these concepts is the opening of Daniel Fleming Studio. In cooperation with Brondino Davidson Art LLC, I’m opening the doors to my studio and inviting the public to take a closer look at my newest complete and in-progress work.
Get an inside look at the work as it’s made, pick the brain of a working Milwaukee artist, and get comfortable talking about art! Daniel Fleming Studio will be open on scheduled hours and by appointment.
