Praise be when one of visual art's supreme motives is satisfied: the pushing of the boundary. This boundary, drawn differently by all, is hard to describe. Left unspoken, most know it right away, especially when it's been obliterated. Sometimes, I believe it's pushed when any choice has been made. For my context I've pushed the boundary because I've chosen to be a visual artist (can you make a living at that?). I work on one-of-a-kinds. What?
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| acrylic on canvas |
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| ink/watercolor on paper |
What I find getting pushed around is concept (craft is flat out bullied). But when viewers are challenged conceptually (obscurantism) their purchasing power takes a beating too. This is where I recognize visual art for its muddled classification of consumerism. Separate from all else, it is as if the art wishes not to be merely bought or sold (agh, how bourgeois) but rather "collected" and applauded for its bravery. And even the above average consumer (aka 200,000 breadwinner) simply cannot be relied upon to play this game.
The art world is a beast unlike any other. Sigh.
And when an artist or gallery owner wish for their art to maintain its boundary-pushing ability they do things like relocate away from the center, further toward the frontier. In fact, they should. I live in Lockhart now, maybe next year I'll be in Seguin.
Today I learned that my watercolors have reached the third round of The Art of Watercolour's First World Watercolour Comptetition. Not at all my typical junk mail.
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