The Art and Life Connection

The Art and Life Connection... Do I think that there's a connection? I do. Am I justified in that belief? You decide.

First, by definition, the artist draws on their experience, subjective perspective, history, innate skills and training, and whether or not the work is done collectively or as a solo venture, the nature of art is such that the artist's hand or eye will be evidenced in some capacity.

Second, whereas design, or the modern incarnation of craft, may be produced by an artist, in this case they are working for another and for an end that has little bearing on their artistic programme and more to do with financial gain. Thus, an artist may produce design work in an "artsy" way, but its end goal is to satisfy the customer and thereby lead to financial compensation.Note: this is not a bad thing, only different from true art. Personnally, and I also know many other artists who do the same, I produce some work for the financial compensation in order to survive and continue producing art.

Third, sometimes this distinction is not as clear. Particularly in the case of protest "art," some of the work is clearly born of some deep-seated personal belief (and therefore by my definition, art) whereas other work is produced either out of some sense of obligation "for" the cause or some actor in it (and therefore shifting into the design world). Historically there are certainly examples of both with Goya's engravings of the Horrors of War clearly in the arts world and the propagandist "Uncle Sam wants YOU!" propagandist imagery for recruitment in the US army clearly in the design world.

Now I've drawn a line that joins the life of the artist and their work. But I believe that there are further lines to draw... for tomorrow's Blog. Good Night.