Where is art?
{Intoduction by Doug Swinton, Article by Jerry Markham}
HELLO. I have been writing this newsletter for 16 years, and this time I decided, while painting in Southern California, I should get a guest artist to write something so I can stay on the beach a little longer and paint. “What a great idea”, I said while eating a bag of Doritos and contemplating why my palm trees look like sticks with explosions on top. I can’t remember if we have ever had a guest writer or not. If anyone remembers, please jog my ever fading memory.................... Most of you will probably already know my painting buddy, or as Donna used to call him… “my art spouse”…. Jerry Markham. We have been painting together off and on for some 12 years. Over those years we have had some of the most lively and in depth conversations about everything from hockey to how Styrofoam is shipped after they make it. The best and the deepest were often art related, and though most were never solved they were always open to interpretation. He’s always been a thinker and it has been my honour to be allowed inside some of those thoughts.
Drum roll….bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbblllt
Ladies and gentlemen…I present to you... Jerry Markham
Where is art?
Chasing down rainbows and leprechauns, and the search for the illusive.
Knowing what I know now, I don't know if I would have chosen to be a painter. Having learned what it takes, mentally and physically, I would not have engaged in the choice so lightly.
Recently my wife and I went to see a play in Vancouver called Paradise Garden by Lucia Frangione. Again brought this question to mind. Here is a scene from the play where ErgÜl, Layla's mother, has found an art book Layla was looking at, which sparks a discussion about art.
LAYLA: hopeful Yes.
ERGÜL: Just not "Western" art.
LAYLA: Why not?
ERGÜL: So much of it is about the outer nature, when an artist's responsibility is to express the whole inner nature...LAYLA rolls her eyes Seriously, what can this possibly do for anyone? Lamp shades made out of women's lips.
LAYLA: The Lampe-Bouche is to express comfort. Like a kiss. Alina was mass producing art for the home, very innovative for her time...
ERGÜL: It doesn't appeal to the activity of the soul to me.
LAYLA: Don't try to turn iconoclasm into "universal truth". You don't want to see any faces and figures, no "idols". Fair enough. But it doesn't mean I can't find spiritual journey through the exploration of the body.
ERGÜL: It's not an Islamic objection. Goethe protested "art for art's sake". Depicting the body like this is self grandiosity.
LAYLA: Meaning we should stick to pottery and calligraphy? Handy useful art? Everything should be handy, including me. I should stick to stem cell research because then I will be handy.
ERGÜL: Yes. You should be useful and so should art, and you should both attempt to transcend reality. Look at this here. What is this? A woman writhing in pain...
LAYLA: It's her. The artist was dying.
ERGÜL: Of what?
LAYLA: Never mind.
ERGÜL: reads Breast cancer. Art should be beyond what is, it should explore what could be....
You can see how this stirred up this question once again. The arguments made by both characters in that scene is what I have been fighting since I began painting. I want to paint paintings that evoke emotion, which is what Layla is saying, while at the same time I believe in craftsmanship, which I believe is what EngÜl is saying. These two parts are where I believe art lives. I believe it to be a place that must exist but of which I have only caught glimpses of and not yet ventured. I have seen flashes of it in great paintings, writings and music that have been left for us but with no instruction of how to achieve it.
So what is the actual definition of "ART" and where did it originate?
Art: From early 13th century, skill as a result of learning or practice. Skill that is attained by study, practice, or observation: the art of the baker; the blacksmith's art.
The Root: AR; to fit together, join.
This might be best described by Tom Jay in his essay "There is no art for art's sake":
"Art is a fitting together, a well-made joint, an articulation, like the way the bones in your fingers work together, or words in a Yeats' poem, or an osprey's wings in a light wind. "Art" is our connection: art joins and joints things so they move in an articulate way. It is crafting the joint, the fit that is the creative art."
It is the marriage between you and the subject in combination with your skill from practice and observation in your chosen field that makes it art. It is constantly explored and not often attained. I learned some time ago that just because I painted pictures it did not make me an artist. Being able to assemble furniture from Ikea does not make you a carpenter. The word art and artist has become perverted in our use of it today. It seems everyone is an artist or knows of one. The word is so overused it has become a watered down source of mediocrity. I believe this is why it is so difficult to define art in general. If everything is art then nothing can be art. There must be boundaries and guidelines or it becomes nothing and meaningless. Many have protested art for art's sake. I would argue that art for art's sake would not be art at all, meaning there cannot be such a thing as bad art because if it is poorly crafted and does not fit it cannot be art.
So, where and what is Art?
Art is in you. Art is in the observation, practice, and melding of you and your craft. I believe the only thing that is original is the individual, the craftsman himself. The way you choose to practice your craft is the only thing that is new and innovative if you are true to yourself. This, for me, has been the hardest, and most rewarding, aspect of learning to paint. It is the journey of self-discovery that is the true challenge of finding art.
Jerry Markham
with introduction by Doug Swinton
