What Artists Do. Leonard Koren

What Artists Do - Leonard Koren


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      For Emilia

      Copyright © 2018 Leonard Koren. All rights reserved.

       No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without

       the express written permission of the author or publisher.

      Published by Imperfect Publishing

       PO Box 608, Point Reyes, CA 94956 USA

      Book design by Emilia Burchiellaro and the author.

       Special thanks to Peter Goodman, Nan Weed, and

       Kitty Whitman for their help in the making of this book.

       imperfectpublishing.com

      I S B N 9 7 8 - 0 9 8 1 4 8 4 6 8 6

      5

      “Only be an artist if you have no choice!”

       —Marilyn Minter, artist

      6

      “There really is no such thing as Art.

       There are only artists.”

       —E. H. Gombrich, art historian

      Contents

       Introduction9

       1. Determine what art is18

       2. Make something from nothing33

       3. Stand out in a noisy and distracted world42

       4. Get others to see things in very specific ways57

       5. Make things that are meaningful70

       6. One more thing . . .86

       Text notes99

       Quotation sources120

      8

      “If we drop beauty, what have we got?”

       —John Cage, artist

      9

      Introduction

      Is art really important? If so, what are the evidence-

       based facts, the “metrics,” that prove its importance?

       Or, is the value of art fundamentally not quantifiable?1

      A premise of this book is that art is important because

       art is part of that nebulous, unquantifiable dimension

       of reality we sometimes call “the poetic.” Religion,

       magic, and even love, beauty, and other forms of

       non-rational understanding also fall into this category.

       The poetic transcends the practical imperatives of life—

       and yet it is a building-block of the identities we assign

       to ourselves. The poetic is also (importantly) a well-

       spring of joy, hope, pleasure, and wonder. . . . It is a

       source of comfort and consolation when our fellow

       humans beings let us down, and when we feel that the

       universe really doesn’t care . . .

      10

      Those who make art we call artists. Anyone can be an

       artist.2 There are no tests to take, no certification required, and no particular skills needed. Similarly, anyone can call themselves an artist. (Conversely, anyone can be an artist but not call themselves one.) Accordingly, there are as many ways to be an artist as there are people on the planet.

      Artists create from a subjective point of view:

       – This is what I see.

       (Or would like to see. Or could imagine. . . .)

       – This is what I hear.

       – This is what I feel.

       – This is what I think.

       – This is what I believe.

       – This is what I question.

       – This is what I am curious about.

       – This is what I want to manifest.

       – This is what I am.

       (Or could be. Or would like to be. . . .)

      11

      “Painting is the best way I’ve found to get along

       with myself.”

       —Robert Rauschenberg, artist

      12

      “I don’t teach because there really isn’t anything I can

       teach, except what I do, which is the last thing that

       would be helpful to anyone but me.”

       —Sol LeWitt, artist

      13

      Artists are cognitively grounded in the aesthetic. That

       is, they are aware of, and think about, the sensory and

       emotive qualities of phenomena and things. Absolutely

       anything can be the object of aesthetic consideration,

       even things that don’t seem in the least bit sensuous,

       like a series of random numbers or an abstract idea.

      Every artist formulates their own problems to solve

       and sets their own criteria for success.

      Artists do myriad things. Six of these things are

       discussed on the following pages. This limited (and

       arbitrary) sampling is intended to emphasize how, in

       totality, the work of artists has a substance, spirit, and

       methodology different from that found in most other

       types of work. Highlights from the lives of seminal

      


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