I ain’t that deep (a mini-rant)

March 27, 2008  :  On Art and Artists   :  Views 373  :     

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Why are visual artists always expected to have a deep pyschological or political meaning behind their art, while musicians are allowed to just play and enjoy the act of making music?

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Comments on 'I ain’t that deep (a mini-rant)'

Ann  (March 27th, 2008):

Amen.

Lisa  (March 27th, 2008):

Cause we’re special.

cynthia  (March 27th, 2008):

Here’s deep and meaningful from me: I like to play with mud. :D

Daniel Sroka  (March 27th, 2008):

Nice Cynthia, I like it. It’s much like why I like to sculpt. It’s just fun to hit things with a hammer.

Paul Grecian  (March 27th, 2008):

I’m not sure that every type of music can get away from being psycho-analyzed. But it would be fun to try to create visually in the same mental state as one who plays a jig. I wonder what the images would look like?

Jeanne Guerin-Daley  (March 27th, 2008):

Hey, no one ever said life was fair!
I don’t have an answer to your question, just a nod of the head: I know what you mean and I wonder the same thing!

Jeanne Kent  (March 28th, 2008):

Oh Yeah. I have this problem when asked for an Artist’s Statement - mine would have to be-”I love to play with glass, and I like to experiment with stuff.”

Somehow they always want all this deep introspective meaninful garbage.

Can I quote your rant in my Artist’s statement? Nobody has said it that I know of, and I KNOW we’ve all thought it.

Jean Levert Hood  (March 28th, 2008):

Goooooo Dan!!!!! Yep!

Mark  (March 29th, 2008):

Here, here! How about when people often try to assign all sorts of meanings to lyrics that couldn’t be further from the original meaning? Good rant, though I think it is quite unavoidable at times. Perhaps playing with mud is the only suitable response! :-)

Zak  (April 3rd, 2008):

I think it’s at least partially because music is diachronic whereas the visual arts are synchronic. That is, music takes place over time where visual art is static. That makes it much easier for, say, two people to look at the same photo at the same time and discuss it ad nauseum, taking it in all at once. The fact that you can’t take music in all at once, and you can’t reproduce it in books (to be heard), makes it that much harder to critique meaningfully.

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