art art art

There is something intimidating about creating a project. A topic or theme may give more direction, but the artist must create something out of nothing. A discussion in the Faith and Art class made me think about bending the rules of art. No longer do artists have an academy or school of fine arts where set rules and styles are practiced. Artists now take creative freedom and our post modern culture (and perhaps we have even moved past this as well) has reduced everything down to process. or so it seems. But in order to break the rules, and do it well, wouldn't you have to really know the rules? I have seen some student work that is very naive and immature in it's development. Some people might say that this is their artistic style, but I see so many problems with it. This can be frusterating. So many artists are taking advantage of the loosly structured term "modern art" to excuse bad design or bad projects.

Art is a challenge; it is something that drives the creative person to creation and to solving problems with solutions that are meaningful. Shannon supplied me with this quote:

"When artists reach into their colors or to the notes of a musical core, into the developing solution in a darkroom tray or to the flow of words on a page, they are interacting with the eternity God has placed in their hearts. They are trying to be significant in their universe- trying to mean something more than a random collision of molecules" (although as Christians we have a clearly defined purpose) "Though modern philosophy tells them they are nothing, their hearts tell them something else. Because their minds cannot fathom what their hearts know, they fell the weight of the God-placed burden. Art often seems irrational because the heart is reaching beyond the mind. A modern art museum displays the heart reaching beyond what the mind knows, trying to find the meaning of its existence." -John Fischer.
So while i know that there is bad art, i can understand the need to express or find something and the desire to share that with others.