Welcome to Help Desk, where I answer your queries about making, exhibiting, finding, marketing, buying, selling — or any other activity related to — contemporary art. Together, we’ll sort through some of art’s thornier issues. Email helpdesk@dailyserving.com with your questions. All submissions remain strictly anonymous and become the property of Daily Serving.
As a Political Science major, my choice to minor in Studio Art has taken more than a few by surprise, especially those who are familiar with my artistic skill level. My question relates to how to cope with being in a setting where others are clearly more skilled, and why you might argue that one should not lose hope and pursue their art knowing that when it is completed it will not receive the highest marks or hardly any praise. I love creating art, and I recognize that I will never have my pieces in a gallery, but sometimes I need a bit of motivation. Art gives me the escape and freedom that my other majors seem to squelch, but should I keep going when I’m simply mediocre?
Absolutely you should go on making art if you find it enjoyable. Skill is an issue now because you’re in an academic environment, which (of necessity and long-standing tradition) emphasizes certain kinds of proficiency and maintains a hierarchy. But you won’t always be in school and you won’t always be facing these particular pressures. Eventually you’ll be on your own and it will prove vital to have a pastime that is satisfying.
If instead of art you discovered that you liked to bake, but usually produced cakes that were lopsided in comparison to those of your peers, would you be asking if you ought to give it up? Or would you just accept baking as a hobby and leave it at that? The increasing standardization and professionalization of the fine arts has produced a generation of people who, a hundred years ago, would have been content to be Sunday painters but today feel that if they can’t get an A+ or a solo show or the MacArthur Grant, they’ve failed. This is all wrong because it takes the pleasure of doing completely out of the picture (pun intended). It’s the logical result of a society that prizes experts and punishes amateurs. But as all dedicated amateurs are wont to point out, the word itself comes from the Latin amator meaning “lover.” You can love what you do simply because it brings joy to your life and not because you are an ambitious professional.
Please don’t stop making art. Try to appreciate the skills of the other artists around you and learn from them while you are in school. When you don’t receive high marks or praise for your work, ask for detailed feedback from people you trust and see if anything they say is useful to you. Spend time with art in galleries, museums and publications — you’ll see that skill is not the only element that counts. Above all, savor the time you have to make your work because soon you’ll graduate and acquire a busy life. Art may well be your solace and comfort in the days ahead.