"Verity" in art is a bad thing?

[rbiemer]

One of the students at the college I work for is hanging their BFA thesis show this week and in the email announcement of the show there was this statement from the artist:

There is an emphasis on mood in my paintings, and the tone is often defined by subtle choices in lighting, color, perspective and weather. Despite my realistic approach, I believe that verity in work deadens the experience and essentially nullifies art.

(emphasis added)
A reminder that we all approach our own art from a different perspective for certain but I have always believed that truth in art--either a literal visual truth or an emotional truth--is important.

What do you think?

Rob

 

[Sejanus.Aelianus]

What do you think?

I think that the person who wrote that introduction is falling into the trap of equating pretentiousness with profundity. The best introduction I ever saw at an exhibition went something like: "I hope you enjoy my paintings".

There were a lot of sold dots on the canvasses and that was on the second day. 🙂

 

[jsrockit]

I think that the person who wrote that introduction is falling into the trap of equating pretentiousness with profundity.

Better to do it while in school and chalk it up to a learning experience. I had to write a thesis paper for my BFA exhibition which pretty much ended up like a 15 page version of that guy's quote. 😱 😀 It's hard to write about your own work when you've only been doing it a short amount of time.

 

[kbg32]

Some people believe that work that shows emotion is wrong. I remember being in grad school and there were a couple of fellow students who were always critical of others work for being "too emotional".

 

[jesse1dog]

I wonder how 'he' would define 'verity' if asked to do so?
The first sentence is a bit of a puzzle too. I wondered how he 'weathered' the pictures.
But then whose idea was it that there was to be an introduction to the exhibit - student or tutor? Always difficult to do well!

jesse

 

[kbg32]

"ver·i·ty
ˈveritē/
noun
noun: verity; plural noun: verities

1.
a true principle or belief, esp. one of fundamental importance.
"the eternal verities"
truth.
"irrefutable, objective verity""

"1
: the quality or state of being true or real
2
: something (as a statement) that is true; especially : a fundamental and inevitably true value <such eternal verities as honor, love, and patriotism>
3
: the quality or state of being truthful or honest <the king-becoming graces, as justice, verity — Shakespeare> "

Tough to live without.

 

[Lauffray]

It's hard to write about your own work when you've only been doing it a short amount of time.

To me it's still hard to write about my own work. The words somehow always seems inadequate

 

[Lauffray]

Some people believe that work that shows emotion is wrong. I remember being in grad school and there were a couple of fellow students who were always critical of others work for being "too emotional".

I think the question is, why is verity important to *you*, as an artist ? If it's central to your expression, your self and the way you experience the world then it is important to your work, otherwise who cares about verity. A good artist is first and foremost someone who is true to themselves, no ?

 

[mdarnton]

WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
and, apparently fiction is truth

 

[shadowfox]

I think that the person who wrote that introduction is falling into the trap of equating pretentiousness with profundity. The best introduction I ever saw at an exhibition went something like: "I hope you enjoy my paintings".

There were a lot of sold dots on the canvasses and that was on the second day. 🙂

Where is the Like button?

🙂

 

[hepcat]

Except in portraiture where the concept is representational, I find it a bit pretentious to suggest that an artist's work is a true representation of anything. Is there verity in ANY art? Isn't art, by definition, interpretive? Viewing art, at least for me, is a very personal experience.

Basically all art boils down to either: "I like it" or "I don't like it." I appreciate an artist whose art stands on its merit.

 

[Rodchenko]

I know Verity. She's a lovely lass.

 

[danielsterno]

To me it's still hard to write about my own work. The words somehow always seems inadequate

Lauffray: so true and to your point. IMO, if the artist work is successful, it doesn't need to be "explained", the artist should not have to give out directions to the viewer on how to "feel" or how to "see" their work.

Louise Bourgeois said it best and more eloquently than I:
"A work of art does not have to be explained... If you do not have any feeling about this, I cannot explain it to you. If this doesn’t touch you, I have failed,” 2011"

 

[Sejanus.Aelianus]

Where is the Like button?

I believe it's the one marked [Cash|Enter]

😀

 

[rbiemer]

I think the question is, why is verity important to *you*, as an artist ? If it's central to your expression, your self and the way you experience the world then it is important to your work, otherwise who cares about verity. A good artist is first and foremost someone who is true to themselves, no ?

I agree with this and this is another way to think of verity; is the work true to your vision? I think expressing that truth is important.

Except in portraiture where the concept is representational, I find it a bit pretentious to suggest that an artist's work is a true representation of anything. Is there verity in ANY art? Isn't art, by definition, interpretive? Viewing art, at least for me, is a very personal experience.

Basically all art boils down to either: "I like it" or "I don't like it." I appreciate an artist whose art stands on its merit.

At a minimum, I think that any artist's work should be truly representative of what they wanted to show us. This does not have to be--and in some instances probably can't be--a literal representation of any actual physical thing. But I do think that art does not become art with out some expression of truth.
Whether that truth is as mundane as "I made a pretty picture and I want you to see it" or is more profound or more personal doesn't change that.

Jesse, I didn't read that first sentence as you have; I don't think he "weathered" his paintings, I think he meant what kind of weather he chose to paint.

Rob

 

[kbg32]

I think the question is, why is verity important to *you*, as an artist ? If it's central to your expression, your self and the way you experience the world then it is important to your work, otherwise who cares about verity. A good artist is first and foremost someone who is true to themselves, no ?

Conumdrum. Isn't that "verity"? Truth can be defined as "true to ones self".

 

[RichC]

Well, it all depends on what is meant by "verity". ..

I think all the artist is saying is that contemporary - postmodern - art is concerned with expressing ideas and connected with social movements and cultural issues; the earlier fascination of art with objective representation (pre-modernism) or, later, what best suits a medium (modernism) has been passed.

Let’s consider art photography rather than painting, since this is a photo forum.

In the mid-20th century, the photograph became associated with being a record, an imprint of the world. Victorian pictorialism with its composite images and careful staging evolved into reportage and the snapshot. In 1977, Susan Sontag famously summarised this idea of the photograph: ‘A photograph is not only an image as a painting is an image, an interpretation of the real; it is also a trace, something directly stencilled off the real, like a footprint or a death mask.’

However, postmodern art photography challenges this notion of truth. After all, photographic truth is a myth - as we all know: as John Hilliard illustrated in his 1974 panel (below), simply by altering the crop. So, contemporary photography plays with, for example, staging (e.g. Cindy Sherman). Another artist, Hans Op de Beeck, adds to the mix by confusing the past and the present, and refusing to make distinctions between still and moving photographic image - hence the term "lens-based art" rather than "photography" or "video", since some work is neither but both both: "Staging Silence" by Hans Op de Beeck..

The "verity" of contemporary art is not the objective representation of reality but having integrity to the idea or concept underpinning a work. The aim of, for instance, a contemporary art photographer is to create images that reflect his thoughts, interests and feelings - to photograph what’s inside him, not what’s on the outside. If that requires staging, appropriating ‘found’ images (e.g. Google Streetview), Photoshopping, then so be it... All photographs are lies, so what's the point pretending otherwise.

"Cause of Death" by John Hilliard:

 

[Roger Hicks]

. . . Victorian pictorialism with its composite images and careful staging evolved into reportage and the snapshot. . .

And was itself a reaction against "a record, an imprint of the world". I'm less than convinced that "movements" mean anything except to the adherents of those movements or to lazy or intellectually challenged historians; "lazy or intellectually challenged historians" including, of course, the vast majority of popular art historians.

(Sorry, Rich: this was not to imply that you are "lazy or intellectually challenged": merely to present a further argument with which I suspect you will agree).

Cheers,

R.

 

[hepcat]

And was itself a reaction against "a record, an imprint of the world". I'm less than convinced that "movements" mean anything except to the adherents of those movements...

Cheers,

R.

I agree, at least in part. I think that the various "movements" aren't necessarily as important in and of themselves, but are merely labels to describe periods of evolutionary style in a medium that hadn't been explored before. Just as the Victorian style of architecture yielded to Craftsman style at the beginning of the 20th century, and the Craftsman and Arts and Crafts style yielded to Usonian and Mid-Century Modern, the "movements" just help describe periods in art history.

 

[Sparrow]

WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
and, apparently fiction is truth

CAPS LOCK IS ON? ....... 🙂