Art, Artist, Artisan
Saturday 18th November 2023
Dear Friends,
Whenever a woodworker strays from the conventional square-and-straight pieces and into the realm of curved or shaped work, you’ll inevitably hear the cry, “Oh, well it’s not really furniture, is it. It’s more like art furniture”.
I must say, I struggle to understand what ‘art furniture’ actually is. But I think I understand what is being hinted at.
It’s that old divide between Art and craftsmanship.
First of all, let’s define ‘Art’
Art. Capital A. The noun that describes the Contemporary Art world.
I won’t pretend that I know much about Art.
A little bit of it I like.
Most of it I don’t.
Some I find disdainful
Occasionally I’ll find a piece that is captivating and transcendent.
It’s a personal thing.
I guess that means that the art world is doing its job. Pushing boundaries, tearing up the rule book, not playing by anyone’s expectations, exploring new ground.
The trouble is, it can feel somewhat exclusive.
There is a big eco-system of colleges and galleries and agents and dealers and collectors and auction houses and top-secret vaults that surround the art world.
I don’t exist in that, and nothing I do is Art as the Art World would define it to be.
Firstly, the craftsmanship of a piece of Art is incidental. Whether it is technically brilliant or not has no bearing on whether it is considered good or bad Art by galleries, critics, dealers and the like.
But the craftsmanship of one of my pieces is one of its most important features.
Secondly, each piece of Art looks to say something. There is a personal narrative for each piece.
My work has an overall narrative (heirloom quality, local provenance, traditional handcrafting techniques etc), but each piece…not so much. They are all basically functional objects, albeit nice-looking ones.
Finally, in the Art world, any concept of ‘beauty’ is looked upon with suspicion. As Duchamp proclaimed “Aesthetic delectation is the danger to be avoided.” Beauty is seen as reinforcing what we already know, and therefore not pushing any boundaries.
But I seek refinement, proportion, beauty and elegance in everything I do.
So it seems that the world of Craft and Art are so separate that never the twain shall meet.
But there is a bridge.
That of the artist.
An artist is one I would categorise as a creative in any field, and the contemporary Art world does not have exclusive rights to them.
An artist is anyone who creates and makes their own unique creation.
A singer-songwriter. A chef-proprietor. A jazz-musician. A salsa dancer.
The craftsman may well make someone else’s designs to a specification, but the artist pulls something of their own uniqueness out of the invisible and makes it visible.
And in the process of engaging in that creative pursuit.
We are engaging more deeply with life itself.
So don’t be put off!
Call yourself an artist!
Make, create, and set your unique creative spirit loose on the world!
Until next time,
Stay sharp friends,
~sh