The Referent Part 4 - Creating Art

1. Introduction

This essay is about Creating Art.  It is the continuation of my previous essay in which I used short statements to define what is art.  Here I use short statements to explain what I think creating art consists of.

Knowing what is art, the subject of the previous essay, is not the same as knowing how to create art.  Knowing and creating are neither interchangeable nor synonymous.  Art collectors know what is art. Few collectors, however, create art. This may not be a problem, because art collectors are not necessarily artists.  However, it is a problem for artists because creating art requires knowing what is art and how to create it. 

2. About creating art

• There is no such thing as making mistakes when creating art. There are only attempts.  Some attempts work and some attempts do not work.

• In non-artistic endeavors, unsuccessful attempts are considered mistakes.  In the world of art unsuccessful attempts are considered everyday happenings.  Some are happenings the artist decides to fix and others are happenings the artist decides not to fix.  

• Some unsuccessful attempts end up being happy accidents.  A happy accident is something an artist did unconsciously that turns out to be exactly what the artist needs and wants.

• To create artistic images with photography one must be committed to make photographs that are art rather than documentation.  This is because the vast majority of photographs are documentary rather than artistic.  Documentary photographs are used in many fields, including but not limited to: – reportage, geology, botany, zoology, humanitarian, food, travel, psychology, sociology, economics, history, anthropology, archaeology, gastronomy, climatology, ecology, urban design and more.  Artistic photographs are used only in art.

• Creating art is not an item on a bucket list.  Creating art is a compulsion.  Artists create art because they cannot help doing it.  Creating art is a need not a want.

• Creating a work of art is not an engineering process.  Creating an artistic photograph of a window is not the same as making a real, physical window.  A real window must be waterproof, air tight, open and close properly, be of a specific size, fit into a wall opening of a specific size, meet building codes and industry requirements, be practical and more.  A photograph of a window only needs to be aesthetically pleasing to the artist.

• Bad engineering results in products that do not work or are dangerous.  Bad art results in artwork people do not like but that does not hurt anyone physically

• Creating art means doing speculative work, not commissioned work.  

• When requesting commissioned work, a buyer gives a list of requirements to an artist and the artist gets paid if their work meets these requirements.  When creating speculative work there is no intended buyer.  The artist decides what the work consists of and people buy it if they like it.

• Exaggeration is one of the most effective ways of transforming reality. Creating art is therefore easier if the artist practices hyperbole. 

• Creating artistic photographs means manipulating reality.

• Artistic processing creates more stylistic differences than artistic composition.  If several photographers compose and photograph a location similarly, artistic processing is what will create differences between their photographs.

• Creating art is not a sport.  Art is subjective, sport is objective.  An artist is not an athlete trying to win a gold medal.  An artist cannot ‘beat’ other creative individuals. An artist cannot come first, second, third or whatever ranking an athlete may end up with.  

• Similarly, creating art is not about being the best artist.  Artists are not in competition with other artists.  They are in competition with themselves.  Their goal is not to succeed in winning a competition. Their goal is to succeed in expressing their vision and connecting with an audience that values this vision.  Artists need to take off the pressure that competition brings and focus on their art and their vision.

• Art serves no practical purpose.  Art does not help us complete our tasks and chores, unlike the objects and services we use daily.  If you come to art from a profession in which you created practical products or services, you will need to find a new purpose for your artistic activities.  Using the creation of something useful as a purpose, will not work.

• Art is not useful.  This does not mean art is not important.  It is.  Art is important because it brings us awareness of things we do not think about.  Art opens a window onto another way of seeing and thinking, a window onto another reality, one that we aspire to, miss or want to explore and discover.

• Art is necessary but it is not useful the way a washing machine, a car, a house, accounting, plumbing or any of the myriad of products and services we use in our life are.  Art matters for reasons other than practical. 

• Artists do not need to make pleasing others their goal. They just need to create art they love and those who love it will naturally gravitate towards the artist and their work. Conversely, those who do not like an artist’s work will naturally move away from this artist and find other artists whose work they like. 

• Working in this manner is not being selfish, ungrateful or pretentious. It is simply accepting one of the fundamental aspects of art which is that an artist cannot please everyone no matter how hard they may try.  So, the best is to please themselves and wait for people who like what they do to show up.

3. Conclusion

The items above are all about letting go of habits and methodologies used in non-artistic endeavors.  What do we replace these with you may ask?  You replace them with an emotional response to the subject that inspires you.  What is that subject?  It is your referent.  Knowing what your referent is therefore primordial, and that is why it is the subject of this series of essays.

4. The Next Essay

The next essay will be about criticism, one of the most important hurdles artists face when creating art.

5. About Alain Briot

I create fine art photographs, teach workshops with Natalie and offer Mastery Tutorials on composition, image conversion, optimization, printing, business and marketing.  I am the author of Mastering Landscape Photography, Mastering Photographic Composition, Creativity and Personal Style, Marketing Fine Art Photography and How Photographs are Sold.  All 4 books are available in eBook format on our website at this link: http://beautiful-landscape.com/Ebooks-Books-1-2-3.html. Free samplers are available.

You can find more information about our workshops, photographs, writings and tutorials as well as subscribe to our Free Monthly Newsletter on our website at http://www.beautiful-landscape.com.  You will receive 40 free eBooks when you subscribe.

6. Studying fine art photography with Alain and Natalie Briot

If you enjoyed this essay, you will enjoy attending a workshop with us.  I lead workshops with my wife Natalie to the most photogenic locations in the US Southwest. Our workshops focus on the artistic aspects of photography.  While we do teach technique, we do so for the purpose of creating artistic photographs.  Our goal is to help you create photographs that you will be proud of and that will be unique to you. The locations we photograph include Navajoland, Antelope Canyon, Monument Valley, Zion, the Grand Canyon and many others.  Our workshops listing is available at this link:  http://beautiful-landscape.com/Workshop-home.html

Alain Briot, Arizona, September 2025

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