Art vs. Rules
I’ve always wondered why people need to study art theory. I see no use in that, as I believe that art is a form of expression (if not the ultimate).
If you want to express yourself artistically, you shouldn’t be bound by rules that tell you how things are suposed to be, as many people will focus more on how you abide by those rules rather on the message or idea you are trying to convey (with results similar to these )
If everyone trying to express their feelings, emotions or ideas will do what the majority of the people think it’s correct, everyone will end up doing the same kind of things, leaving individuality and, paradoxically, expression out of the equation. IMHO that’s not art as expression, but art as a mass product, that you can sell.
Personally, I don’t have any artistic education, besides what might have been taught to me in school, but I certainly know what I like and what I don’t. I’m able to feel emotions by looking or reading a pieces of art. I’m not so sure if I’m able to convey them correctly though.
Certainly you have to learn how to use the tools of the artistic craft of your choice, but that shouldn’t limit your artistic expression, it should broaden it.
For example, I choose what to shoot with my camera based on the impression it causes me when I see something or by having an idea in my mind, and many times I find myself thinking stuff like “take care not to underexpose the shadows or blow the highlights”, “put the subject on the thirds”, to suddenly realize and ask me why should I do that, if that’s not what I have thought of.
Maybe is that I’m too stuborn or just that I didn’t get the whole idea of photography as an art.
I’d like to know what you think about this issue.
PS: Writing in English is not my main strenght, so if something is not clear enough, I apologize.
Mark Tull
You, my friend, have summed it up, its not a science project, but an expression of emotion that others can relate to :-))
blamo
best to do your art for yourself ….......... i think
Uncle Artmonger
I guess it would depend on whether you feel art is the process of personal expression and creativity (such as yourself) or if you think it is a process of creating something aesthetically pleasing simply for that reason.
Mark German
It’s semantics.
‘Rules’ are not really ‘rules’, but instructional guides.
Think of them that way, play with them, use them if you wish, convert/distort/fly in the face of them. It’s your world :)
DragonFlyer
I like what you write Mark – this fits perfectly with the old (but very useful) saying that ‘all rules were meant to be broken…’ Though to break them so it ‘works’ you really need to know them so well that they become instinctive…
Gabriel Skoropada
I posted this in at least three places, in one of them I received this answer, that I find really interesting:
“We all have artistic ideas from day 1 of our lives- this is human nature.
When one goes to school or university to learn art theory, ideally they are learning about other peoples art ideas, and this has an effect upon them- their initial ideas change, and the more one learns about other ideas the more ones’ ideas change, and develop. say then you have many people who have this heightened developed set of artistic ideas- even then when they all get togetehr they will still change once again.
The more individualistic of this group will develop their ideas along a path of thinking that is quite different from the group, but most will tend to conform to the thinking of the group….the individualist is creating a new style, and the conformist group are conforming to a style: they become a school of thought. Sadly the latter group has historically austracised the individualist…..and the individualist is typically not recognised for their effort until they die or their work is taken up by a younger group of new conformist thinkers. (eg Pablo Picasso)
For the individualist, who is the real innovator in this process, this is a personally catastrophic matter,. for the art dealer it is very profitable.
But I can attest to the fact that if one does not start the process of learning about other peoples artistic thought, it is very unlikely they will never grow as an artist, so the real artistic individulist has to take the risk…...
This process does not necessary have to involve a formal education- it can simply be joining an informal group, but in the schools and universities, one can experience the greatest variety of different thought, and therefore maximise ones chances of artistic development.
Now the rules.
—-Learning art theory does not bind you to any rules. When a self appointed expert tells you: this is how it should be donehe’s essentially saying: why don’t you join our “School of Thought” – he is in the group of conformists, not the individualist above. He may have once been an individualist, but by the time he tries pressurizing you to obey the rules, those days of individualism have passed- he is now the conformist. If you are an individualist in this circumstance, this will become a egoistic struggle of wills, and this is essentially what rules are about. If you are strong enough, free enough and artistic enough, you can break the “alledged rules”, and i can tell you: once you have, there are 2 things you will learn:1. there were no real rules to start with, and
2. you are now a real artist. “
Jeff Stroud
Gabriel, Thank you for sharing your thoughts with this… I have had not formal art training, and what have learned from Photography is by doing, the experience of taking a photograph, liking it, others liking it or not… yet I choose to look in to technical ideas of photography to expand my expression of art, expression of self and beauty, or of interest…
I just recently joined a group of Photographers and they are offering studio space to do studio work, which means learning, lighting, set up, back drops, model work, something completely out of character for me up until now…
Thank you for your thought, and Ideas..
Jeff
Appel
Very interesting and I think true to a degree, at least in my opinion. As you see things that you find beautiful or that create an emotion in you that you want to express, you take a photo of that. For me, as I’m learning the “rules”, I find that many of those rules help to express more clearly what I desire to express. So often I desire a certain feel to an image that I can’t seem to portray but the more I learn about photography the easier it is for me to achieve the feeling I want. Some of it’s just a matter of learning what your camera does and what the result will be with the different settings used. For example, when I was first learning, I never realized that when you shoot an object into the sun, you’ll create a silhouette. This may or may not be what you want, but knowing that that is what you’ll get is good. If it’s not the desired effect than you can use a fill flash or a different angle to get the effect wanted. So, in conclusion, I think there is definitely a place for photography “rules” but there is not a single rule that has to be true all the time to produce a good piece of art. :-)
I hope that makes sense.
O.k. all done with the seriousness – photography is FUN – go out and have FUN!! :-D