Commodity or art

I have a poster ( by Fred Babb) in my studio on which is written “Good art won’t match your sofa”, which I use as a daily reminder not to be lured into the trap of mass producing work that I have little desire or no inspiration to produce.

There's commodity (decorative) and there's art. Art does things that are unexpected, and goes places that are sometimes uncomfortable. And you will seldom find these art pieces blending into the decor. Decorative art generally becomes part of the room. Real art makes a statement. It will stand out and demand attention and whether it simply keeps drawing the eye to it or creates a topic for discussion, a truly inspired work painted passionately, will very rarely be passed over without at least a second glance.

I recently read a comment in which a woman who worked in a framing and print shop was frequently requested to find something that “matched”. On an occasion someone required a piece for the bottom of their stairs. At the end of the hall at the top of the stairs there was a room, and if you were at the top of the stairs and the door was open, you could see that the drapes were green, therefore the art had to match the drapes in the room on a different floor all the way on the other side of the house.

A number of times I have been requested to reproduce a painting using different colours. Blue nudes for instance, because the bedroom was blue and the neutral colours I used would not blend.

Worse still were the clients who would find pictures they liked in print catalogues and request a reproduction, possibly introducing the colours that were on their curtain fabric or walls.

Of course conventions and classic inferences would be an easy set of tools to use to create our work and produce crap very easily. They allow us to paint without thinking, without feeling and without putting anything of ourselves into the crap. When we do that, we are making a product, a commodity – it’s not art!

People use these tools as a way to avoid work, to avoid thinking, to avoid having to find those uncomfortable places where things don't match the sofa.

Many people would rather safely purchase matching commodities than a work of art which forces them explore what's within themselves.

A truly valued audience would be the one looking for artists who will do the work necessary to find unexplored passageways, which will look into their own souls and dredge up things that they themselves are afraid to look at, who will tell the truth, no matter how painful.

Not just string a bunch of ready-made riffs together, top it off with a few really fast scales, and call it a solo.