Had I not had so much resistance to my attempts to study art (I was blocked from studying art and music at secondary school -- art, I think, because I wound my teacher up too much, music because my thing was synthesizers, and as this was the 1970s, my instrument didn't officially exist as far as my school's head of music was concerned, despite the fact that I could play piano quite decently despite never having studied it), I think I would quite possibly have gone in that direction in my life. As it is, I did (and do) electronics and computing, though often with some kind of arty application.
One thing I learned many years ago is that it's impossible to make good art if your heart's not in it. Back in my music business days in the late 1980s, I was involved with a dance music project. There were a couple of DJs involved, who knew the dance scene intimately but weren't musicians, and me, who was a musician and engineer/producer, but who didn't really know the dance scene. The result wasn't bad. I didn't really get off on listening to it, but the DJs liked it. Anyway, we took it along to an A&R person at CBS Records in London's Soho Square -- at the time, just getting through their door was something of a coup. Anyway, we played our tape, the A&R guy said he quite liked it, but it wasn't for them. Then he did something interesting -- he looked at us, and said, "Your heart isn't in this, is it?" It wasn't, he was dead right. The DJs were in it for the money. I was kind-of along for the ride. He said, "come back with something that you really care about." Needless to say, given the three of us, that wasn't going to happen. I probably should have sent him some of my personal work, but never did. The project fizzled out, but I learned a great lesson: art only really works if your heart is in it, if you really care about it. Secondly, making art purely for an audience's preferences and not your own doesn't really work.
Most of the art I do now is photography (kind-of obvious, that, or I wouldn't be posting this here!), but I only make pictures that I care about. This probably consigns me never to get anywhere in the art world, but so be it -- I honestly would prefer it if people like my photographs because they like them in and of themselves, or hate them and want them burned on sight, rather than have to make middle-of-the-road safe art that is more likely to sell. For me, I get a lot from making the art, *because* I care about it. If people like it, great. If they hate it, in some ways that's an even greater compliment -- people generally don't *hate* mediocrity, they ignore it.
Another great quote from Stephen King, talking about writing -- 'Never go quietly to the page.' It's the same thing again, I think.
Discuss!
(Gratuitous photos, just to show the kind of art I tend to make)
(Yes, a black and white shot with a large format camera in Yosemite valley, I have no shame)
(Gratuitous boulder in Joshua Tree National Park, large format again)
(More rocks and boulders at JTNP)
(2D illustration)
(Pure CGI -- nothing real here at all)
(Mixed media CGI/large format photograph)
There's more on my Flickr pages (I have to link back to them under their terms of service if I post links to photos).
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