Value

I've had a few interesting experiences lately that makes me perplexed by peoples' view of what art is in our culture, and of what value to place in it.

I'm beginning to wonder if people think that art is something to put on the wall. Period. Space filler. Art is, obviously, space filler in the most elemental sense, but what does it say about a culture that believes art is created by printing presses to be mass produced for walls everywhere. I had a kid in here recently that accused me of not knowing art. He didn't know me. I didn't know him. He flat out made an accusation without feeling my work or seeing my work. Attacks reign in this field, and it is by people who think technically about what something is. My argument is that art is not technical, or a picture. Art is what I am writing now without script. Art is giving a presentation without script. Art is brainstorming solutions. Art is painting. In essence, that is why most universities have a "liberal arts" department that which little value is given in our society. It is ironic that many art schools are within the design departments along with architectural and engineering departments. Shouldn't they be in the liberal arts department?

Anyway, art is subject to critique, but even critique is in the form of like or dislike. Opinions that get confused as critique. It is interesting that I have had several art students come in to my studio, and ask to be my apprentice. They want technical skills from me. I don't understand because my art is me. I don't have a book that documents the thousands of brush strokes that I use, nor do I mentor people on how to paint. My work is about who I am, not what brush strokes I use. To argue otherwise, is the result of a culture that thinks in the world of ten steps.

Reflective expressionism is to accept that beautiful things happen arbitrarily. The basis for letting things be. Our culture wants to can all ideas and thoughts into mass production so that efficiencies are gained for financial well-being. I say that works for objects like tooth brushes and tools. However, canned art reflects on a culture that is so reliant on segregated society that people forget that value is not just measured in economic terms. Value must also be based on the immeasurables for which feeling is necessary to provide the intuitive basis for value.

Reflective expressionism is not about methods. We are often accused of not doing any "work". But, yet, our place is one which people congregate to, and feel comfortable to communicate with one another. That intangible consensus is immeasurable, but valuable. That is the true value of artistic creation over and above mass production.

(c) kenneth martin