Someone is looking intently at an artwork, turns to the artist and innocently asks: "How long did it take you to do that?". Ugh.
It makes an artist cringe. Some artists, feeling defensive, reply with a flippant "My whole life!" To an artist, the question insinuates perceived worth. I used to patiently consider the question an ice breaker, a safe way for the viewer to engage in conversation because they are not sure how to approach otherwise. Now I'm suspect.
Time, labor, materials, size. It's frustrating to deal with so much attention to physicality. I don't mind discussing technique. It's the reference to time = $$$ that increasingly annoys. If I say a canvas took me half a day because the painting session was immersed in a zen-like creativity, the reaction is...polite respect. However, numeration involving pained hours and hours (even months) spent on a piece concurs head-nodding monetary merit. Calculating value by the hours expended in a creation of art is not an indication of what it should cost.
"My whole life" really is. Accrued skill takes a lifetime of patience and persistence. It parallels general life experience and evolves into a total package as the artist becomes the art and the art IS the artist.
"The cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run." - Henry David Thoreau
Art of Horse Racing - Sharon Crute shares a passion for art and horse racing.
6 comments:
VERY well said......
Agreed. I think that phrase has become my most hated question. Also the most common. I think a lot of people ask it innocently, they really have no idea how this is done and no concept of the time investment (be it a big or small time investment on the piece itself). Let's see, do we count the lifetime of doing art, the time spent formally studying it, the years perfecting technique... I generally just smile and say "a long time" and most people accept that.
Thanks Robin.
Katherine: I think people DO ask the question innocently. I'm evasive (oh, that's hard to say, I'm usually working on several paintings) or I try to turn the question on them. (What is it about that painting that makes you ask that?) However, it can become downright maddening when you're working an exhibit or art festival.
If another artist asks you, I would see it as true curiosity, and a way they can compare their own production time. If anyone else asks, it's probably because they are so amazed by the tiny intricacy in Katherine's work, or the vastness of yours, Sharon. Anyone who is mentally trying to figure out how much you'll make an hour probably isn't going to invest in art anyway, they're just trying to figure out how your seemingly glamourous job as an artist compares to their own job.
I like the starting gate piece, Sharon, it's very compelling. Your more recent works seem to have more color, which is a personal preference of mine.
Jan, I hate to admit this but I've caught myself asking "the question" of another artist a time or two and it was indeed because the piece was so amazing. Of course, then I chuckled while slapping myself!
Great comment...
Wow! I can't count how many times I've also been asked that question. I usually just say a very long time They come come back with I'm sure. :-)
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