Theoryphobia
The Maker is handling a class of Art Theory. It is a third-year college level class. The students are familiar to him. They have become over the last three years practically his friends. It is a tough class to handle because the field of art theory is far too wide to fully discuss in a single semester and people in general often have the wrong notions about the meaning of the word theory. They are generally afraid of it. The Maker proposes a term for it. Theoryphobia.
As always, the Maker starts the semester by asking his students what they think the term art theory means. He requires translations in the student’s native tongue. Fortunately, the class speaks Bisayan, and so the discussion is easy and informal. The students propose the expected textbook definitions referring to its importance in the thesis class, which they will take in the coming semesters. They refer to what has been written down in books about the problem of art and its meanings. They expect a discussion of the art movements and the philosophies. These are definitions the Maker expects. They had discussed them in a previous class in art history. And so, he sets off to correct this wrong notion. Art theory has little to do with these things. It is a field that must be understood at its most basic level. He asks instead these questions: What problems do you as artists face and how can a knowledge of theory help solve these problems? What should you think of when you do your art?
He impresses on his students that theory is not just what has been written down by well-known artists, historians and critics of the past. It includes that body of knowledge but it should be understood at the most personal level. What drives the young artist forward? How does he do his work and why? For the Maker this is the most operational level of theory. The young student is searching for his or her art. While this search does include plumbing old and established ideas, the more important aspect of the discussion requires also the understanding of the contemporary artist’s true condition. The discussion of art theory begins from the artist himself or herself and the conditions under which he or she survives.
This discussion is elemental because many students have passed through the Maker’s classes and only a few persist in their art. The Maker proposes that the discussion of art theory should start here. How does the artist make his art sustainable? The problem has something to do with the talent and the abilities of the artist. But the more important concern is whether or not the artist will be doing his art for the next 20 years or so. Will the artist and his art survive? What form of art will make it possible for the artist to achieve this goal?
The Maker recalls how he went into wood-carving. He had trained in painting and his main medium had been oil painting. But as he began teaching he discovered that oil was not the medium for a young art teacher. He would begin to make paintings at home only to discover that his paints dried up on his pallet board long before he could finish the painting. Fortunately, he came across some pieces of hardwood from his old hometown in Dumanjug. He started carving and found the medium more in tune with his life cycles, his lifestyle. He could carve a few hours a day after school. The problem of paint drying up too fast for him ended. Theory has everything to do with lifestyle. What form of art fits the particular artist’s lifestyle? If the artist has to work at a regular job, what form should his or her art take?
It is a strange question for most art students. They had grown up as artists on a staple of “proper” forms for art. Art is a painting on canvas or paper. Or if it is sculpture then it must be bronze or plaster; if installations, then they must be found objects etc. Fortunately, contemporary art theories validate the idea that art should now take on variegated forms. Graffiti has become accepted high-art even if its practitioners still insist on its “low brow” quality. At the same time, new technology has opened up a whole universe of possible forms an artwork may take. Anime is art. So too, virtual sculpture. The old paradigms of art such as canvas painting and sculpture including carving are increasingly being challenged by new forms. Performance art is becoming accepted art form. The possibilities are now endless. It is the field of art theory to plumb the possibilities.
Thus, the Maker challenged his students to reinvent the form their art should take. This form should be light and easy. It should be convenient and doable by an artist even if he or she might have to work in a call center for a while before they can start doing art full-time. What sort of art could this be? (To be concluded on Sunday)
