My dad was an artist and I grew up surrounded by his paintings adorning the walls. While perhaps when young I didn't fully appreciate it, as I started to get older, I realized how lucky I was to have his original artwork hanging on the walls, spanning many decades, styles and times throughout his life. I don't have any of his paintings, but I do have two of my mother's, which are pictures side by side in the image below. She wasn't much of an artist, but under the influence of my father, she did dabble from time to time and explore her own style of work.
It was kind of a family affair, because while they painted, my maternal grandfather made the wooden frames on which they were stretched, which are works of art in and of themselves. He was a master woodworker and the handmade dovetailing work is impressive. He was good at many things, excelled at some.
In a world of mass-produced, disposable consumables, why do we value original so much?
While a production line can spit out perfect copies of products endlessly and we have been conditioned to value them, there is still beauty in the imperfect. The the hand-crafted nature that leaves the unique signature of the artist in the work itself, giving it individual DNA, like us - original work, is human work.
And that gets respect.
At least, it used to get respect. Now, I think people are largely giving up on original, giving in to the convenience of mass produced, no longer caring as much whether something required skill, because they know they are just going to throw it away anyway. It is like buying flat-packed furniture for a rental apartment, which will be replaced a couple years later, because it doesn't fit in with the style of the new rental apartment.
The majority of people don't invest into something authentic, because they just want the look without the price tag - they will buy the "dupe" to play the part for a short period of time, before they dispose of the old and jump on the next bandwagon driven by the algorithms, getting another lookalike to fill the void. A one of a million print on the wall, rather than a one in a million original.
I sound like a snob.
But, it isn't about expensive art, because I can't afford that either. However, I would far rather have my own crappy, self-made art hanging on the walls, than prints of the masters, because it would be original and, it would be mine. Too much of my material life is mass-produced, but my creative life needn't be and, I can respect myself for making the attempt to create something worthy. There will be failure, but that is what art is about - exploring the world that is unknown, not filling the walls with certainty.
Maybe it is because we live in a world of mass information where the best is cherrypicked out of the crop, diminishing the majority of all else. Before, we would support local talent, even though it wasn't comparable to the stars, because it was within reach. Now though, with global access at our fingertips, the world is never out of reach and because we are consuming digitally at a personal level, it feels "original" even though it is infinitely shareable. We get the sense of being the owner and having it on our walls, along with the 100 million other people who saw it.
Not that it is on our wall for long.
Because, the infinite scroll culture will feed another piece of work a moment later, with the last never holding enough time in attention to actually appreciate it. And, because of the constant stream of content flowing through, rather than skill and experience going into the creation of any art, it is about speed and convenience. As a result, the artist no longer matters, because there is none of them in the work any more, it is devoid of personality, no commentary of life garnered through experience.
Filler.
Currently, the walls of my home are bare. But, this summer I am going to begin the transformative process to change that, by creating some art to fill the space. It will unlikely be beautiful and you would never see it hanging in a gallery or on the walls of someone else's home, but it will be mine. Original. Flawed.
Just like me.
This is what original is - a representation of our journey - of time spent, energy expended, lessons learned, success and our failures. Our house won't look like a showroom, it will look like our home. Our marks on the walls, telling of where we are and the lives we had. And maybe even hint at where we could be going in the future, but that is filled with uncertainty.
It is time consuming and inconvenient.
Such is life.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
I never cared for original art; until I saw some of Konstantin Razumov's (Impressionist) work.
Not sure if the whole Russia Bad thing is getting in the way, but he's an absolute wizard with a paintbrush, and he's still so young.
When I'm looking to diversify out of crypto, he'll be at the top of my list.
Great
and nice to hear about art running in your family :^)
It doesn't run deep enough in me unfortunately, but I can dabble :)
I used to have quite a bit of my original photography placed throughout my house when I was living "alone". Now I still have photos, but they are mostly of people, not of things. Which is kind of weird because I also grew up with photos of things or places around the house. My dad was a freelance photographer. We had a full darkroom in our house. It was pretty cool. I am more about things being functional than how they look when it comes to furniture. We have some prefab stuff, but then we have some custom built stuff too. It helps that my best friends dad owns a custom cabinet shop!
Photos are something that will go on my walls too. I have plenty to sort through. We have one from our first trip together in our bedroom.
Did you learn to use it?
My grandad was a hobby photographer too - the only person I know who had a color enlarger at home. He had built a darkroom in his woodworking shed :D
Living the dream!
Based on the photos you use in your posts, I can tell you have quite the eye for it. I did spend time in there with my dad, but I would say my sister bonded with him more over that. We only had a black and white enlarger because he is colorblind so he figured what is the point of trying to develop color photos. Those he would send in to a professional lab.
I would like to add something from me to anything I own. Since I mostly see the wall in my house, of course I would like to desing it on my own ;)
You know, I have always wanted a tattoo - but since I have to design it and I end up not liking everything I create - I haven't got one :D
Tattoo might be harmful for our body :)
I'm noticing recently, I value items much more that I craft myself. And surprised at how DIY is of growing fascination to me, across an ever expanding spectrum of products and services.
The "mass produced" just doesn't do it for me now. There's times I even ponder if I could learn sewing. I love the pride of accomplishment and knowing exactly how something was made, and made right (in my opinion).
I always joke when I hear a conversation that has "I saved 40%..." or "I got this on sale..." for some commodity item, voiced in an excited tone, eyes wide open. I have this irresistible habit of bubble popping via a snarky response of, "If you keep saving money like that, you'll be RICH!" The conversation participants stare at me, then collectively seek out a different venue to continue their hyperventilation, leaving me to pet the cats nearby.
Once you skill up, be it photography for home decor, cooking, property maintenance, etc, you really start to realize outsourcing that talent doesn't produce something of high value, especially on the appreciation side, let along the quality.
Very thought provoking post.
I am sure you can. If I can do it, anyone can!! :D
It has been many years since I made anything "proper", but I made some things to decorate our daughter's room before she was born. Made some evening dresses 20 years before that for a fashion show :D
And then they will look at you like you don't understand finance...
I do my family's head in by festooning the house in my own stuff. To be fair the kids get a lot of wall space too. I don't like buying art unless it is original. I think we only have the two pieces produced outwith the family in the house and they are awesome in originality if not skill!
When you say "stuff" ...
Things to appreciate and the types of things that get handed down to the kids later.
Your mother may not have been much of an artist, as you say, but those two paintings are amazing, they look like microscope shots of organic substances, and the colors are lovely!
Why wouldn't it be? If it's honest and has some balance, it should be worth appreciating at the very least. Hope you share some of it here, you might be surprised what others think of it, hahaha. I wish you good fortune in your endeavor.
I might add some of it here, if it is good enough. Sometimes, what I see in my head - isn't "quite" what happens on the canvas :D
You know this reminds me of the dribbles that kids do when they want to draw a picture showing mum, dad, their siblings, and themselves.
It's amazing how the drawing may not have all the artist's perfection but is always original and when you look at it, you can experience the moment with them, and the message of being a part of their family will be passed to you.
You might even feel a tear break out because you see children in their innocence not caring about perfection, just drawing their family tree in a way that speaks volumes about their homes in a two-dimensional art form
Kid's drawings are great. I love drawing with my daughter and seeing what she comes up with. I don't teach her how to draw, but I do give her some tips on techniques she can play with.
That's lovely 😍
With all the things you have been teaching her, she will certainly grow up to be a wonderful lady.
I think I told you about the knob end on G+ that blathered about hows they didn't care about the labour that went into a piece, all they cared about was getting it for as cheap as possible. I suspect a lot of people are selfish like that (but they weill pretend it's being sensible/frugal/whatever because selfishness is a negative trait and they're good people).
If it's any consolationn my walls are still bare after over a decade living here because we never get around to hanging the photos and stuff because the hooks and lines keep getting moved! >_<
That's great to hear. But I am curious to know one thing. I hope you won't mind.
@galenkp & @tarazkp in both names kp is common in the end. Besides both of your father was an artist. Are both of you brothers?
It's a question that came to mind earlier but today I found another similarity and that's the reason I am asking it from my curiosity.
I am sorry if my word seems offensive to you..
We are brothers. Born on the same day of the year, but I was born nine years earlier than he was.
The same day of the year but a 9-year difference 😱. It's interesting 🙂.
Thank you for answering. Finally, my curiosity of one year ended here😅.
Today I did something I had not done in a while-gifted one of my pieces.