Art In Bars

A difficult aspect of art involvement or interest is the issue of what is good Рmeaning, how does one parse personal tastes and preferences from what is “good” and “bad” and does anyone have the right to bestow these labels?

First of all: eyeroll. Of course there is good and bad art; pretending that context, intent, or anything else can justify the merit or quality of work is a fun game to play at, but honestly, sometimes art is just not good. As I can equally be completely misanthropic, hating everything, or keen to play artist’s advocate, when my brain gets too arts-overloaded to sort myself out I always fall back on the concept and craft argument.

Art needs either a strong in concept or strong in craft, and most agree good art has both. Art can be described as visual evidence of an idea, although the amount of weight placed on the visual or the idea is greatly variable.

Craft is the more approachable aspect and traditionally understood as skill. Typically we think of painting, or sculpture, but these ideas can be applied to any visual media. Craft is something that can be intuitively understood and appreciated. Good craft is well done, well executed no matter what the media. Craft is learned and developed, and can be lost with disuse. Craft itself can be easily manipulated and intentionally poorly executed, complicating the issue.

Concept is basically the idea behind art. What it is attempting to comment or question, what motivated the work. There is a lot of leeway to concept; it can be straightforward or more obtuse. The concept could be the exploration of materials or ideas. Alternatively, concept is not visually present in the work, but rather applied by the viewer in place of artistic intent.

Traditionally craft was the more important in art. Think classical paintings, things that look like things, it mattered how well things were drafted. Nowadays, the hierarchy is reversed, the idea is often more important than the execution. Conceptual art Рart that is an idea primarily, existent visually secondarily – is often more difficult for viewers (especially art outsiders) to process as art, because it does not conform with their traditional expectations.

It has become a contemporary trend for artists to use poorly executed craft in place of concept – as though it can be substituted for an idea, and that just doesn’t fly. It’s weak on both accounts, yet has become the go-to shtick for artists – the intentional imitation of outsider art as substitute for proper execution or to obscure a weak image, idea, or both.

I do not feel all art should be beholden to lofty ideas, but I don’t see any point in making bad art.