At a certain point in time, we over analyzed technicality in art, so much so that artists were competing on who painted the best veins in all of oil painted pale flesh, had depressions over who had the sickest most accurate perspective drawings, who captured the light exactly how it looks to the molecule. Commercial home entertainment paintings for rich folks made lots of money back then, but all that saturation of money focused artistry made most of ‘making art’ into a flesh vein obsessed perspective mania light molecule painting competition. If the ‘judges’ of the ‘wall’ say your painting got some likes, your painting was hung a few inches higher than the others.
Perhaps that’s when some younger folks coming up that aligned with the spirit of Monet said, ‘Wait, who even owns this wall? Eff your platform and eff your wall too. Who is even funding this place. This is propaganda! God, art used to be fun and now the industry has sucked the joy out of it and no one seems to care about anything else!!!’
Then, this person opens the newspaper and sees that the ground breaking never before seen technology of Photography is available to the public. Wait, it can CAPTURE reality?! ‘NO! Why’s it gotta be now when it’s already hard to be an artist as it is!!!”. Now one must struggle with their own trajectory of life being dismantled, within a world that is shaking like there’s no tomorrow.
After spiraling endlessly, this person like Monet finds himself at 4PM on a Tuesday hung over, having eaten a ton of junk food, sick, miserable, and hopeless. He thinks about the world, the industry, that fucking WALL, and begins to spiral again. His spiral cycle continues until he’s so dehydrated from sobbing and jerking off that his mummy ass finally drinks a glass of cool clean water and finds what was missing in this state of full depletion - CLARITY.
He thinks: God! Why and how could I be so defeated?! Every step I took brought me here to draw. I did everything to have these tools, this skill, to know what I know now at this moment in time and culture for ART. I choose to paint. I WANT TO PAINT. Not because I want to show off how good I am technically, but to show what I SEE. What else am I going to do, and what else am I supposed to do? Art was never about any of this. It can’t be so that art can only represent what the eye sees. Art is a tool to understand, to share, to connect, to share a perspective unique yet relatable. I choose to find what is BEYOND. The spirit of the moment! The IMPRESSION!
Unknowingly, this man like Monet spreads his great spirit of bringing ART back to life and inspires others to create their own impressions of life that snowballs into a movement that makes history. Not by force, but by sheer magnetism in expression of his humanity. We prove to the rest of humanity that yet again our creativity cannot be bound.
I do not claim my article to be historically accurate, but I know you feel me.
I urge you to break out of the current conception of ‘good art’ defined by the industry. Art goes beyond the showmanship of a single artists technicality.
So back to the title. I will give you a hint of where you can find your first footsteps.
What is the spirit you feel right now from your perspective and in the time you live in? Remember Mr. Ralph Waldo Emerson’s wise words: ‘The riddle of the age has for each a private solution.’ Look around. We are plagued by IMPRESSIONS. Everything that is yelling at us is about giving a great impression with no real value underneath. The people who advertise an impression of themselves online who are completely different in person. Professionals dangling their resumes on their chests who hide the pain and suffering they have caused. Products that impress you to purchase and get hooked, only to lower the value as time goes on. All of this crap, for quick benefit.
I hope this description of the times of today excites you rather than discourage you. The implications I am making are crystal clear that we are at the precipice of needed change, and now you have the key to unlock it.
Free us from the oppression of the impression. You know deep inside that this isn’t it, and that you have something within you that you always wanted to express. Show it to us. Show it to the world! The world is practically begging for it!
Please show us that we are more than this. That our creativity yet again has no bounds.
I believe in you my friend! You have the future within you.
With love,
Sunmin